Just about 100 metres down the road from the Big Ben lookalike clock tower that impresses visitors coming into Kolkata through the Dum Dum airport is a service lane, off the Lake Town footbridge, that is fast turning into an unofficial junkyard for abandoned cars in the neighbourhood.
Not only do these dented and dirty vehicles ruin the local ambience, but with unseasonal rains, they also become ideal breeding grounds for mosquito larvae. Dengue at present is rampant, with 159 people affected in the South Dum Dum municipal area since October. The current official case load may be in single digits but after the recent rain, experts warn of a need to stay vigilant. Yet the authorities are least bothered by the continued presence of these health hazards.
For more than two years now, the service road in Lake Town connecting VIP Road to Bangur Avenue has been home to broken mini buses, derelict private vehicles and rows of dysfunctional taxis. Locals who earlier took pride in the remodeled stretch close to their homes are having to put up with such eyesores.
In fact, the stretch hardly bears any resemblance to its earlier neater avatar that had made headlines in the press after the area underwent extensive beautification.
When asked about the deteriorating look, Samantak Guha Roy, a resident of Lake Town, said: “There was a time when this place used to be lined with trees on both sides of the service road. Now it looks like a garage for abandoned vehicles. Not only have all the trees been felled, gone are the days when people would come down from other neighbourhoods to see how neat and clean the neighbourhood looked. I don’t understand why the authorities are not doing anything about it.”
While one might surmise that these cars have been seized by the local police station, the Lake Town police say they have no role in keeping the cars lying by the roadside. Nor have they been left there with police authorisation.
When contacted by The Telegraph, Lake Town police station inspector-in-charge Nandadulal Ghosh said: “Even if we are witness to the sorry state of affairs, our hands are tied. This is not under police jurisdiction. The South Dum Dum municipal officials need to tow these abandoned cars away.”
Asked about the situation, Sujit Bose, fire and emergency services minister and MLA of Bidhannagar, passed the buck on the civic authorities too. “This is not my responsibility. The authorities of South Dum Dum Municipality are responsible for this. They should be the ones clearing the cars from the area. I cannot do anything about this,” said Bose, who is a resident of Sreebhumi next door and has been organising a Christmas and New Year carnival along the service road for more than five years now.
Scrapped cars have been lying not just on the service roads, but also in several roads in Block B and Block C in Bangur Avenue. With frequent rains in recent weeks, pools of water have accumulated in the backseats or the luggage units of these cars. Since most of the glass windows are broken, rainwater seeps in easily.
Panchu Gopal Roy, chairman of the board of administrators, South Dum Dum Municipality, expressed unwillingness to act on his own unless he received a complaint in writing, “If residents are having a problem they must write an application addressed to the municipal corporation. Till date, I have received no such complaint about abandoned cars on the roads of Lake Town or Bangur Avenue. I can only take some action or get them removed if I receive a written complaint.”
Partho Saha owns a medical store in Block C in Bangur Avenue. Someone has abandoned a dysfunctional Tata Alto car right next to this store. “The car has been lying here for months at a stretch, ever since the first lockdown. It is covered in filth and causes traffic snarl. Every year Jagaddhatri puja pandals come up in Bangur Avenue. There is one that was inaugurated by Sujit Bose himself. When the minister comes here the entire area is cordoned off. All traffic comes to a halt and a bylane is used by the local cars. And these abandoned cars create even more problems at that time, since the roads are blocked either because of pandals or because of these abandoned cars,” he said.
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