Title - Traffic pain for Metro gain Viaduct Construction To Shut A Flank Of DH Road To Vehicular Traffic, Po

Kolkata: Those who commute along Diamond Harbour Road daily, brace for the worst. As the Joka-BBD Bag Metro reaches its most crucial phase — building of the viaduct along the Taratala flyover and Majherhat bridge — the entire western flank of DH Road beside the flyover and the bridge will have to be shut, forcing police to scout for alternative routes to channelise the mammoth vehicular traffic that takes DH Road every day.
    The closure of one flank would naturally put tremendous pressure on James Long Sarani and Tollygunge Circular Road with northbound vehicles for the central business district (CBD) taking these alternate routes instead. The vehicles taking JL Sarani will go straight, cross Sahapur Sarani (TC Road) and move further into New Alipore to take Nalini Ranjan Avenue and take a left to take Majherhat bridge. Similarly, the CBD-bound vehicles from Taratala Road will take TC Road and then take Nalini Ranjan Avenue.
    The traffic police are, however, worried about the condition of TC Road. “The southern flank of TC Road has been dug up for laying an underground drainage line, forcing us to turn it into a one-way lane from Petrol Pump to Triangular Park. Though the pipeline has been laid, the surface is in bad condition and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation is taking too long to lay the new surface,” said a traffic police officer.
    For this route, the Metro Railway has adopted the most non-invasive way of construction that won’t require demolition of any structure. The elevated track will run parallel to Taratala flyover along the western sidewalk of DH Road. Initially, the Metro Railway had spoken to the Kolkata Port Trust about the proposed acquisition of some land and buildings, including the CESC zonal office at Taratala, a warehouse and the Government Mint ground. Accordingly, the KoPT had initiated dialogues with its lessees.
    However, totoe the ruling Trinamool Congress’s professed stand against forcible acquisition of land, the Metro later changed its stance and took a non-invasive approach. “We are now erecting pillars on the sidewalks. The only building to be demolished is that of an NGO that runs a vocational training centre for women. We will give them an alternative site and a building as the rehab package. We are also awaiting the nod of the ministry of finance as the viaduct will run in front of the Alipore Mint,” said a senior Metro official.
    To avoid destruction of the Taratala flyover and Majherhat bridge, the viaduct will then take a left-turn and go along the left flank of DH Road. It will then cross the suburban railway track alongside Majherhat bridge and take the DH Road median to go till Mominpur. From there, it will go underground.
    To take the pressure off DH Road, the city police will convert JL Sarani into a one-way lane. During the morning peak hours from 9 to 11 am, traffic will ply from south to north along JL Sarani. During the evening peak hours from 7 to 9 pm, the movement will be reversed. Vehicles that take Taratala flyover and Majherhat Bridge will have no problem. But those which normally head north along the surface road beside the flyover will be diverted along JL Sarani.
    “Most stretches of DH Road or JL Sarani have far exceeded their saturation point. During peak hours, it is very difficult for JL Sarani to accommodate the extra pressure that the wide DH Road has carried so far. We are also thinking of converting TC Road into a one-way road till Triangular Park. Traffic will ply west to east along it and from east to west along its parallel Pandit Ganendra Prasad Goswami Sarani during the morning peak hours, with the movement reversed along both during the evening peak hours,” explained a senior Kolkata Traffic Police officer.
    From Joka, the Metro viaduct was constructed along the median of DH Road, mainly barricading the space reserved for a double-line tram track. Here, the construction of pillars became easy after some underground utility services were shifted. But the problem started surfacing with the construction site at Taratala. Since the flyover and the Majherhat bridge are vital links for vehicular movement along DH Road, it was planned that the viaduct will take a left-turn and run alongside these two structures.
    DH Road, particularly, is the vital link to the furthest end of South 24-Parganas. It handles a mammoth volume of traffic. So, any construction creates a massive bottleneck for vehicles. And, the Metro construction is bound to create problems.
    However, the people of Behala and Thakurpukur, who are most likely to be affected by this, are not complaining. The Metro will make commuting to and from CBD a cakewalk for them. “Our only plea to the ministry of railways is to see that no time is lost in its implementation,” said Anirban Mitra, the president of Behala-Thakurpukur Daily Commuters’ Association.