New Town may pride itself on its technology quotient and may even be vying to win the coveted pan-India Smart City Challenge, but it still has hurdles to cross at the grassroots level, especially once the sun sets. 

The Telegraph Salt Lake traversed the township on several nights in recent times and found that past 9pm, Bengal’s model township becomes a deserted island devoid of some basic amenities.

Transport 

Communication collapses in New Town after 9pm. Here’s what we saw at some landmark spots after dark —
New Town bus stop- During the day, the terminus sees off buses to places as far as Garia, Rabindra Sadan and Howrah but post 9.30pm there isn’t even a bus to Salt Lake. 

On a recent Monday at 10.10pm, the bus stop was deserted and the handful of e-rickshaws parked on the opposite flank were naming their prices. 

“After 10pm, we only ply to nearby places like the NBCC Vibgyor Towers. The farthest we go is till Unitech,” said Jagadish Sarkar, an e-rickshaw driver. He admitted that they hike the fares at will at night. 

In Salt Lake, buses get scarce after 9.45pm but there are options aplenty in autorickshaws, taxis and rickshaws. Even if the taxis ask for extra payment, the amount isn’t too much and the drivers are open to negotiation. A transport hub like Ultadanga is a short ride away. App-based cabs too are available.

Rabindra Tirtha bus stop- The Telegraph Salt Lake waited here for 20 minutes and not a single a bus passed post-9pm. A couple of e-rickshaws and autos went by though.

There were three taxis parked nearby but all of them demanded Rs 150 over and above the metered fare to reach Esplanade. “You don’t have a choice but to pay up, do you?” said taxi driver Vinod Singh. “You won’t find any other means of transport to Esplanade at this hour.”

Opposite Unitech building- There were no buses here at 10pm. Several cabs were parked in front of the food stalls there but again, they demanded at least Rs 150 extra to go to Esplanade.

“The last buses leave here at 9.15pm. These yellow cabs charge extra all the time and mobile-app cabs sometimes refuse to come here,” said Supriya Pathak, an IT sector employee at the site. 

In front of City Centre 2- A small crowd of people was desperately trying to flag down cars on the go at 9.45pm. Several stopped, their drivers shouted out their destinations and it was a free-for-all scramble.

“Getting home after work is a nightmare. Buses stop plying after 9.30pm and we have to depend on shuttles as we can’t afford taxis every night,” said Biplab Biswas, a Garia resident who works in Swissotel.

Medical emergencies 

Ohio Heart Hospital & Medical Centre, near Techno India college, has a 24x7 emergency and trauma care unit. They also operate ambulances equipped with oxygen cylinders, heart rate monitors etc. 

In case of emergencies, the Tata Medical Center Calcutta also provides initial support in the golden hour.

Once the patient has stabilised he is referred to another hospital.

But residents do not want to take a chance. “The New Town hospitals are new and I’m not sure how reliable they’ll be at night. God forbid if a medical emergency arises, I shall dial a Salt Lake hospital,” said Brajendra Kumar Santra of AK Block, near NBCC Vibgyor.  

Markets 

Grocery stores in malls, like Spencer’s in Axis Mall and Food Bazaar in City Centre 2 and Hometown, down shutters by 9.30pm. 

The stand-alone Reliance Fresh situated in Utsav Centre, Condeville complex in AG Block also shuts by 9.30pm. 

The only option for residents who want to shop late for vegetables is a row of hawkers opposite Reliance Fresh. “We get a regular stream of customers even after 10pm,” said Manishankar Bera, a vegetable stall owner there.

Most housing complexes with a sizeable population have hawkers selling vegetables outside their complexes but timings vary according to stock.

Three block markets have opened in the township (near the electric office, opposite Rail Vihar and near AA Block, further down the road from Reliance Fresh) and they stay open till around 8pm. 

Fuel 

The only 24x7 petrol pump in the township is near the New Town police station. All others shut after 10 pm. “I’ve seen the petrol pumps near Axis Mall and Hometown open till 10pm but I’m not sure if any other pump stays open all night. I always ensure my car has adequate fuel for the night, in case we need to rush out,” said Santra.

Mechanics 

Car and bike mechanics are few and far between during the daytime in New Town and after dark they are extinct. 
The prominent car-repair shops are in Chinar Park, near City Centre 2, and in Mahisbathan and Nayapatty near Salt Lake. But few go to New Town to rescue anyone upon a breakdown.

“If we don’t have a car in working  condition in our garage we can’t go over. Besides, New Town is very lonely at night and might be unsafe. So we generally avoid going over to rescue stricken motorists at night,” said Raju Biswas, a mechanic from Nayapatty. Past 9.30pm all puncture repair shops down shutters too.

Food 

Some eateries do deliver late at New Town doorsteps but most are picky about addresses. “We get food from Dawat near New Town police station and Alibaba in DLF Galleria mall,” says Saikat Ali Molla of Utsa.

The Aminia branch at Chinar Park takes orders till 11pm. “For distances up to 2km, we expect orders worth Rs 500. A lot of orders come from Akankha. But if the bill crosses Rs 1,500 we are willing to go to even Sukhobrishti, in Action Area 3, a good 15km or so away,” says Firoz Molla of Aminia. 

But Alok Chakraborty, a resident of Sukhobrishti, says he can never get food delivered to his place. “I settled here four years back. Although there are several international fast food chain stores in City Centre 2 and DLF building, none of them delivers food to this complex,” he rued.

McDonald’s takes the last order by 9.45pm and they deliver only to convenient addresses. KFC takes its last orders at 10.30pm but do not go to the far-away complexes. “We prefer going towards Kaikhali, Haidiram’s and Loknath Mandir bus stop area,” said a KFC employee at City Centre 2. 

For street food after 9pm, Unitech is a good bet where a lot of temporary food stalls sell cheap food ranging from Chinese to Indian items.

Pictures by Amitava Paul

 

Have you faced problems at night in New Town?
Write to saltlake@abpmail.com or The Telegraph Salt Lake, 6, Prafulla Sarkar Street, Calcutta 700001