Every year puja organisers fret about getting the idol, pandal, food and cultural programmes in place before the festive season but this year, some organisers have an additional worry: the dug-up roads next to their blocks.

Several roads in Salt Lake have been out of bounds for months now, such as the stretch from Tank 9 to Tank 8 Island, from Tank 9 till the CGO Complex and from Tank 13 till Anindita bus stop opposite HA Block. Work is on at these sites to lay underground pipes that will bring in water from a new treatment plant in New Town.

While the authoritites say they will temporarily halt work and pad-up the roads before Mahalaya, organisers are apprehensive.

Footfall worry

“The water problem is indeed worsening in Salt Lake. This summer we had to buy water for the first time in years, so we welcome the laying of the pipes, but not at the expense of the Pujas,” says Chandrasekhar Bag, an organiser of the BK Block puja.

One of the main roads bordering BK Block has been affected. “The Puja is the biggest industry of Bengal and care must be taken to provide the best infrastructure for it,” says Bag.

Sanjoy Kabiraj, a committee member of the CK-CL puja, echoes his view. “We get a lot of spill-over crowd from the nearby big ticket pujas in AJ, BJ and AK blocks but if a flank of the road connecting us is shut and the other flank congested, would visitors still come?”

In Sector III, many of the affected roads are getting or have already got patchwork done on their surface but in Sector I and II work hasn’t reached that stage yet.

CJ Block has almost got land-locked due to the construction. “Not one but two of the main roads bordering our block are compromised,” says Amal Biswas of the block’s puja committee. “Our venue — CJ Park — is in the interior of our block and so we erect a massive gate at the entrance of our block from Tank 9 to lure visitors. But this year that very flank is blocked. How will cars drive through?”

Goutam Deb of the CG Block puja says many visitors would park their cars on the Third Avenue and stroll into their puja in the Green Verge. “But this year we can’t even walk on that road, let alone park a car there!” he says.

Silk route under threat

“The most lucrative stretch for us during the Pujas is between Tank 8 Island and FD Block,” says Swapan Saha, an auto driver on the Karunamoyee-Ultadanga route.

In fact, many autos forego their regular routes and concentrate only on this stretch during the festival. Over the last few years, AJ, BJ and AK Block pujas around Tank 8 Island have been drawing massive footfall and many visitors then hail autos till FD Block, the other must-see puja in the township.

The problem this year is that much of this Silk Route of sorts is compromised. “Since one flank of this road is shut, traffic on the other is slow. And god forbid if two big buses approach from opposite sides!” says Saha.

The puja committees around Tank 8 Island share his concern. “We are worried about the free flow of traffic as well as parking space,” says Aritra Ranjan Sen, secretary of AK Block residents’ association and puja. “An entire flank between AK and AJ blocks, from Tank 8 Island till Kestopur Canal, gets used for parking but that road is shut now!”

Like every year, their block is getting a gate made at the Tank 8 Island. “We’re lucky that sponsors don’t physically come and assess an area before committing funds for gates. The place is a mess now,” says Sen.

Secretary of the AJ Block puja Bishnu Das says the road has been a nagging concern since they started planning the festival this year. “But on August 10, we voiced our concern at the joint meeting between puja committees, the police, fire brigade and electric supply authorities. They gave us hope that the roads would be fixed soon,” says Das.

Anish Majumdar of the BJ Block puja too says the authorities have promised repairs before the big days. “But the way it’s raining, how and when will they manage repairs?” he wonders.

Saved by options

Some pujas have managed to bypass the problem thanks to the many lanes and bylanes in the township. “The road next to FD Market is blocked but luckily that’s not the route most out our visitors take; we have several others,” says Pradip Sengupta of the FD Block puja. “The roads within our block were dug up too but we requested the MLA and mayor and now they have been patchworked to smoothen out the surface. We can’t expect them to do permanent repairs in such a short time.”

Gora Roy, secretary of CF Block, says their puja draws maximum crowd from the swimming pool and Gangotri restaurant-side entrances. “The dug-up stretch, next to the north police station is not on any bus route and so we don’t get much puja crowd from there,” says Roy.

Officialspeak

If there’s anyone more worried about the situation than the puja organisers it’s the traffic police. “We are already struggling to keep up with closed roads, vehicle diversion and slow traffic. Add to that the volume of puja traffic and we have a recipe for disaster,” says an official of the Bidhannagar Police traffic department.

“We have been rushing the public health engineering department to complete the work and they have assured action before Pujas and especially before the Under-17 Fifa World Cup. In fact, we publish a traffic plan every year before the Pujas mentioning parking space, blocked roads etc. This year’s plan should be out soon and we have prepared it assuming the roads will be fixed. Else our plans will go haywire.”

Executive engineer at the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation Swapan Moitro, who is in charge of the work, said it was irresponsible of people to be complaining. “They have to be patient. Anyway, we are doing some patch-up work for the Pujas so pandal-hoppers won’t face problems. Work will be on hold from the Mahalaya and will resume after Dashami. We expect this project to take up the whole of 2017,” he said.

Input from Showli Chakraborty