Sajid Hussain, a resident of Sanjeeva Gardens on the outskirts of Action Area 1D, was coming home with his children on the evening of April 5 when his car started crawling in front of the Sector V housing complex Panache. “Our way home is across the new bridge over Kestopur Canal. From where we were, the bridge was barely 150m away and home was another 2.2km. But traffic was so slow that in 45 minutes we still had not reached the bridge,” said the senior IT executive. By then, he had figured out that the reason was a concert at Aquatica. So, he turned the car around and went back to Salt Lake to wait out the next two-three hours at a mall till the road cleared.
Hussain’s experience is similar to residents of housing complexes in the vicinity of the water park which has emerged as a popular venue for music concerts.
The residents’ welfare association of Sanjeeva Gardens has now shot off a letter to the Bidhannagar Commissionerate complaining of “severe and persistent traffic congestion” that occurs during concerts at Aquatica.
Diljit Dosanjh
The letter highlighted the “huge hassle every time” during the “concerts on the roadway to Sanjeeva Gardens, particularly during peak hours, especially in the evening, leading to lengthy delays and gridlock on major roads and junctions”.
The commissionerate accepted the letter and advised them to share a copy with the Tiljala Traffic Guard, as the area’s traffic is managed by them. But the Sanjeeva messenger had to return without achieving his objective.
“The officer at the traffic guard said they were doing their best. ‘Where would we find space to park 14,000 cars?’ he asked me and said the letter should be sent to the Lalbazar headquarters since its copy had gone to the Bidhannagar Commissionerate,” said Sibnath Das, the office assistant cum accountant at Sanjeeva Gardens. “They also said that they allowed residents of all complexes to pass if their car had a sticker, and asked us to submit the car sticker of our complex afresh at the KLC police station,” Das said.
“It took us three days to figure out who is in charge of traffic control here after the New Town and the Kolkata Leather Complex thanas denied responsibility. And then, the Tiljala traffic cops, who are responsible, also said they could not be blamed as they were doing whatever they could,” said Sanjib Behera, secretary of Sanjeeva Gardens Association of Apartment Owners.
While the calendar this winter has been dotted with concerts featuring big names, Behera said the situation crossed their limits of forbearance on April 5, when the water park was hosting Yo Yo Honey Singh. “This is the first concert in recent memory when a lot of parking was allowed inside Aquatica. That meant more cars converged upon the road in front of our gates. The police never inform us when a concert is scheduled. They should warn us about the possibility of disruption so we can at least warn our members,” he said.
Arijit Singh
Residents say they were refused direct access to the complex and instead sent to take a U-turn along with the concert-bound crowd. In earlier concerts, cars were stopped at the Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI) crossing, near Tank 10.
The association has not tried to communicate with the Aquatica authorities. “If the police have issued permission for the programme then it is their duty to ensure normal traffic flow. The noise level is high, the road is narrow, and traffic does not move. There are so many senior citizens in our complex. Who can guarantee that a medical emergency will not happen during one such concert? We cannot move out of our complex for four to four-and-half hours,” said Behera.
While those who were home were besieged, those trying to return home from office got stuck on the way. It took all of us over an hour to travel from Sector V,” he added.
The association complains that even residents, carrying car stickers as proof on their windshields, were not allowed to drive straight towards the road in front of their complex.
“They should either stop allowing parking of cars inside Aquatica on concert days or make proper arrangements,” he demanded.
Up in arms
Perhaps the worst-affected are residents of Sanjeeva Town the Bungalow Estate, whose main gate faces that of Aquatica.
“A concert at Aquatica means lockdown for us,” said Rajoshi Gupta, a resident. “Earlier, the police used to issue car stickers for residents, but they’ve stopped now as it proved useless. Instead, they’ve started asking to see our Aadhaar cards to verify our address — but that’s harassment! Who carries their Aadhaar card around all the time?”
Most of the shows take place on Saturdays, when Gupta’s daughter has school. But the roads are blocked from 2pm and the school bus isn’t allowed entry on the return journey. “Last time, the bus was about to drop her off at CNCI, which is a long walk from here. We had to pull strings to get the bus to enter our complex through the back gate. There are neighbours whose children skip school on concert days because of this,” she added.
In the past, revellers have parked inside their complex claiming to be visiting friends. “So now, on show days, any guest car visiting us is charged Rs 500 as a precaution,” Gupta said.
Neil Law, who lives in Ideal Villas along the canal not far from Aquatica, moves to his south Calcutta house the day before concerts.
“I attended the Bryan Adams concert myself — it was a 10-minute walk from our complex. The road was closed to private vehicles, but totos, security cars and general chaos created enough nuisance,” said Law. “Eco Park’s Gate 1 has hosted big shows in the past — that venue is designed to handle large crowds without disturbing residential areas. Even the convention centre works fine. But Aquatica is tucked away in a corner that is not conducive for mammoth crowds,” he said.
Near and far
On concert days, spectator vehicles are parked so far away that even residents are baffled.
Kaushik Ghosh, who lives in DC Block near The Newtown School, had no idea the Bryan Adams concert would affect him.
“But that afternoon, the lanes near my house were overflowing with cars and crowds of middle-aged people walking to the gig — unaware that it was still 3km away! I’ve been living here since July last year and never have I seen such congestion,” he said.
Ghosh had to travel towards the EM Bypass that afternoon and had a harrowing time due to the traffic. “What’s worse is that the cut in the road divider between Biswa Bangla Gate and Balaka Abasan is almost 2km away. I got stuck at Biswa Bangla Gate for ages, and then again at every crossing, as vehicles coming from the Salt Lake side were all taking a right turn to reach the concert. I ended up more than half an hour late for my appointment that day,” he said.
Sonu Nigam
On the day Honey Singh performed, Ghosh got stuck at night while returning from the city as the road had been cordoned off for the singer himself to leave the venue. “These concerts completely disrupt our routine,” he said.
“Cars park wherever they can,” said Somdev Paul, who lives between New Town and Sector V, opposite complexes like Panache. “I get stuck in traffic, and my locality is chock-a-block with parked cars. Illegal parking attendants surface and charge Rs 300 per hour. If a reveller keeps his car from 7pm to midnight, the parking fee exceeds the price of the concert ticket!” he says. “Even those coming in BMWs have to walk 4km to the concert, then return to find their car blocked in by 50 others. They can’t leave until all the others do.”
Lack of planning
The spate of concerts at Aquatica had started with Arijit Singh taking the stage in February 2023. But such was the craze and the chaos that the singer issued an apology on social media (which he later deleted). “I am sorry that you had to park your cars almost 1 km away and walk to the venue (as Toto rikshaws were unable to handle the rush)(sic),” the post began.
Soumya Bose of Salt Lake’s AL Block anticipated the chaos during the Bryan Adams gig and didn’t take his car at all. “We booked an app cab, went as far as it was allowed to and then walked,” he says, recalling the mayhem.
“The street was closed to regular traffic, but VIPs were still allowed in. It was a sea of people on foot, and someone had died in the slums near the venue and their family was trying to bring in a lorry to take the body for cremation. The police and civic volunteers were in disarray,” he said.
“There were some totos labelled as ‘free service for the gig’, but they were too few. Most people had to pay whatever the drivers demanded.” Bose, a frequent visitor to IPL matches at Eden Gardens, said parking is never chaotic there.
“On Ashtami night, an uncle of mine passed away in Sreebhumi, and even there, police managed to halt traffic for 10 minutes to allow the hearse through. If that can be managed in a place as crowded as Sreebhumi during the Pujas, this can’t be worse — it’s just poor planning,” he said.
Pranay Saha of Lake Town attended the Bryan Adams concert and Zomaland — a food and music festival held in March - and had a similar experience. “We parked near Biswa Bangla Gate and took a toto that charged Rs 100 per person instead of the usual Rs 20. The place was remote and almost pitch-dark.
People were drinking in their cars, and women felt unsafe. On the night of Zomaland, I had to leave early — around 9pm — and saw many women also leave early, unsure how bad things might get later.” Saha prefers venues like Eco Park, the convention centre, Nicco Park big lawns or even Salt Lake’s Central Park for such events.
Officialspeak
A Bidhannagar Commissionerate traffic wing official refused to accept that the situation created so much inconvenience. “If so many people converge at one place, it may take 15 minutes or half an hour extra, not more. Our area is till the CNCI traffic signal. Beyond that, it is the jurisdiction of Calcutta Police,” he said.
On the evening of the Honey Singh show, he claimed traffic movement was smooth till 7pm. “About eight to nine thousand concert tickets had been sold. Of them, 2,000-3,000 people came in cars. The rest took app cab or bike rides. It wasn’t like the Bryan Adams show where 80 per cent of the of spectators had ridden private cars,” he said. An officer of the Kolkata Police handling traffic at the venue entrance too did not accept the residents’ claim that traffic was worse that night.
“The only encumbrance was the water pipe-laying work on Thakdari Road along the canal, which might have slowed traffic on that route,” he said.
The Kolkata Police had arranged parking for 800 cars while there was space for 2,000 more in the Bidhannagar Police area. “From the Balaka signal, the cars were coming towards Greenfield Heights. From there, spectators were made to turn left and asked to keep their cars along the road towards the Aircraft Museum.
That road could accommodate thousands of cars along the way,” the Bidhannagar Police officer pointed out. He insisted that all resident cars with stickers were allowed to go right, towards the venue.
“That road is wide enough, with four lanes and a service road as well, along a part of the stretch,” he said. While some congestion was natural at the end of the concert, with 10,000 people trying to leave at the same time, there could not be much hassle at the start as spectators entered in a staggered way, from 5pm, he explained. The Bryan Adams concert drew the biggest crowd. “Even then, we could manage as the road from the Biswa Bangla Gate towards Balaka Abasan was still being widened and we could park the cars on the median divider,” he said.
An event manager, who had organised the Sonu Nigam concert at Aquatica, said while the venue was away from residential areas other than the handful of housing complexes, the narrow approach road beyond CNCI was a problem.
“People walking randomly towards the venue taking up half of the road and autos jostling for space among them hardly leaves any lane free for vehicular traffic. On top of that, the roads are dimly lit or unlit, adding to the confusion of the spectators coming from outside and exposing them to illegal parking attendants who make a fast buck,” said Prasanta Sarkar of the event management company.
“One of the approach roads also needed repairs,” he recalled. Calcutta needs more concert venues to host international stars. The capacity of Nicco Park, he said, got reduced to a mere 5,000 if seats were provided. “In any case, Nicco Park and Eco Park are not being let out currently.
"That leaves the costly Biswa Bangla Mela Prangan (Milan Mela), which recently hosted Sunidhi Chauhan, and PC Chandra Garden, where the capacity is even less, about 3,000-4,000. “The government should reconsider letting out Eco Park for shows, even if fairs of longer durations are not allowed there,” he urged.