CHOCK-A-BLOCK: Prince Anwar Shah Road, on which South City stands, has seen a dramatic rise in traffic volume since the mall opened. Things are expected to get only worse in the days ahead. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

A “high-powered” team surveyed traffic movement around South City, on Prince Anwar Shah Road, on Friday at the direction of urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya.

The team members — police commissioner Goutam Mohan Chakrabarti, municipal commissioner Alapan Bandyopadhyay, deputy commissioner (traffic) M.K. Verma, deputy commissioner (south) Rajesh Subarno, South 24-Parganas police superintendent Praveen Kumar, local councillor Ratan Dey, senior engineers of the civic body and the South City authorities — later met to discuss their findings.

The team will submit a report to the minister, said an official. A task force, headed by Subarno, was formed on Friday to come up with short-term and long-term solutions to traffic problems in the area.

“The meeting was necessary because the volume of traffic on Prince Anwar Shah Road is increasing daily and needs to be tackled. Both local residents and the police are reporting traffic clogs in the area,” said the minister.

Residents and the local councillor had recently organised a roadblock in front of South City to press for measures to decongest traffic.

Dey, the councillor, alleged that pedestrians were facing problems after the South City authorities built two ramps on the footpaths. “After last week’s protests, the South City authorities removed one of the ramps, but the other one is still there. As a result, pedestrians are forced to walk on the carriageway, causing traffic snarls,” added Dey.

According to Dey’s estimate, nearly 1,000 cars will enter the South City compound every day after the estate is ready.

The police commissioner said the estate authorities and the government wings need to work together to solve the problem.

Sanjeev Mehra, the vice-president (mall operations) of South City, stated: “We will take necessary steps for the benefit of the people.”

The councillor said: “We have requested the state government to construct a flyover from Lake Gardens to Jadavpur police station to ease the congestion but we do not know when it will come up. We have heard that the South City authorities will be part of the project to construct the flyover.”