KOLKATA: Police has already started receiving complaints from some irate residents residing close to some big budget pujas claiming that their lanes and bylanes are getting clogged by illegal parking. With the Kolkata Police banning parking of vehicles on the main road especially near all Puja pandals, misery has struck upon those living in the alleys surrounding big-ticket Pujas.
Several residents are finding it difficult to even come out of their homes, with all the alleys being used by bikers as illegal parking zones.
This year, with most revellers prefering to use private vehicles for pandal hopping due to the prevailing pandemic, the challenge of keeping the bylanes free of two-wheelers and four wheelers has become all the more difficult.
Residents residing close to Naktala Udayan Sangha and Karbagan have already lodged complaints in this regard with police through the Twitter account of Kolkata Traffic Police. The puja organizers too have sought police help in this regard, claimed sources asking for additional parking space to be allotted to them. Lalbazar has asked local traffic guards to act and submit action taken reports as quickly as they can.
" I humbly request you to please mark the lane in front of our house as "no parking or no entry" during the (Durga) Puja days. Every year we suffer as visitors of Naktala Udayan Sangha park their vehicles and block the road. Also many times people sit in their car and drink," wrote Sayak Datta, a resident of Naktala Arambagh Lane. "Thanks for the input. The same has been shared to the concerned traffic guard for necessary action," DCP (Traffic) Arijit Sinha's office replied.
When contacted, Naktala Udayan Pally organizers accepted that there might be stray illegal parking issues but said they have discussed the matter with police in detail. "We have asked for police help to ensure that the bike and car menace does not deter the local residents from coming out at night.
The puja site is located on an open ground at the Western side of Naktala Road. The designated parking lot is barely about 200 metres north from Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Road and Naktala Road Crossing. That's not too much a distance to walk," said an officer.
Another resident of Tilak Road adjoining the Deshapriya Park Puja said things became worse after midnight. “The cops are happy that there is no illegal parking on the main Rashbehari Avenue. Only we know how difficult it is to walk down our road,“ she said, refusing to disclose her name.
The issue was discussed in multiple forums by Taltala puja organizers each year. "We have been raising the night parking issue and have been able to minimize its troubles a bit," stated an organizer.
A resident of Rabindranath Tagore Road, an alley between James Long Sarani and Diamond Harbour Road, is finding it difficult to enter his house as bikers are parking their two wheelers in the alley and are walking off to queue up at the SB Park Puja at Panchanantala on DH Road.
“The Puja committee has made efforts on the car and bike movement of the residents of the area in the evening but what about these bikers from outside who are parking their vehicles outside our homes at night? What are we supposed to do?“ asked Chatterjee, a retired government employee
Several organizers want cops to take up more onus. They have cited an instance almost four years ago in Anandapur where a club secretary got booked for “obstructing the flow of traffic.“ While cops insisted that it was a case of contravening a high court order of not putting up gates, the club members said the blockade was to stop bikers from using the alley to park vehicles before visiting Pujas in the area.
