Kolkata Police have declared a number of traffic restrictions to ensure smooth movement of vehicles in the city for Thursday’s Martyrs’ Day rally, which will be organised after a pandemic hiatus of two years.
The law enforcement agency has uploaded an elaborate traffic plan for the day on its social media pages.
“As part of the plan, several roads will be declared one-way, while many roads around Esplanade will stay closed. There’s no specific instruction on parking on these roads, but it’d be best not to park vehicles along the side of the road. The restrictions will be in place from 4am on July 21,” said an officer in charge of a traffic guard in the city.
Graphic: Arif Hossain Mondal
The movement of all types of goods vehicles will be restricted within the city (under the jurisdiction of Kolkata Police) from 3am to 8pm. No vehicles will be allowed to be parked in and around Victoria Memorial Hall — this includes a portion of AJC Bose Road between the Hastings crossing and Cathedral Road, Hospital Road, Queensway, Cathedral Road, Casuarina Avenue and Lovers Lane.
Public transport vehicles, including trams, will either be temporarily suspended or diverted. Parking on the roads and approaches along the line of route of the processions will be prohibited from 4am to 8pm or as and when considered necessary by Kolkata Traffic Police on the day.
In a statement, Kolkata Police have also said that all vehicles may also be diverted from any of the arterial roads and feeder roads by on-duty policemen as and when considered necessary.
DC Traffic (Kolkata) Sunil Kumar Yadav requested people to abide by traffic rules. "We’ve planned and issued special guidelines for the day. If we maintain the rules, the city’s traffic flow will be smooth and hassle-free,” he said.
Many city schools have declared a holiday on July 21, anticipating conveyance hassles. They include St. James’ School, Don Bosco Park Circus, Calcutta Girls’ High School, Assembly of God Church, Mahadevi Birla World Academy, Gokhale Memorial Girls School, Sushila Birla Girls School, Delhi Public School Ruby Park, The Heritage School and Garden High School.
South City International School has opted for early dispersal to ensure that students reach home without hassle, Gokhale Memorial, St. James’ School, Calcutta Girls’ School and The Heritage School will hold classes on Saturday to make up for the lost day.
"Our students are mainly from south Kolkata. The traffic regulations and restrictions will mostly affect the central part of the city. As students and parents no longer want online classes, we’ve decided to release students by noon so that they would not be caught in traffic snarls. Students of lower nursery, upper nursery and kindergarten will have an off day," John Andrew Bagul, founder-principal of South City International School, said.
