New Guardians MIA – Missing in action!

With all the brouhaha, that does the rounds of New Town recently rechristened as Jyoti Nagar. Not many changes, except only superficial ones. HIDCO you sometimes figure gets deservedly slammed about not doing enough to boost infrastructure in a township touted by the state to be the best of best in the country.

So it was recently announced with a lot of fan fare that Kolkata police would be the new traffic custodians of New Town and would be responsible for upholding the letter of the traffic law. Click here for the TOI article on it.

The caveat however was that West Bengal police would still continue to be official legal guardians of New Town for matters anything other than traffic.

One trip down downtown New Town, shatters the myth. You would see that how blank promises and empty police booths stare upon us.

*This picture was taken at a serene hour, where as peak hours are quite a contrast.  But you can see the empty police stand !

Once again no policeman in sight, at a  newly erected police assistance booth !

One of the few new air-conditioned buses that dot the streets of New Town and Calcutta.

First stop: The ‘main’ crossing near the bus terminus in New Town, just past the DLF Enclave. I wonder what does it take to convert this crossing into an automated traffic signal driven one. This is one of the most significant traffic points in New Town and it is completely unmanned. Leaving it to the drivers of their respective vehicles to have a free run. And a free run is exactly what they get. We were told, come February and we will see this township littered with the men in white ! However, we are ready to welcome March and they are no where to be seen.  It is really hard to understand the ambivalence of the state government in this matter.

Have a look at this video and see the ‘action video’ for yourself and see how the traffic manages itself without any monitoring, and this is not even peak hours. This video was taken in the dull afternoon hours.

Let us hope the powers that be, wake up to this and at least install a traffic light at this major intersection. How difficult can that be ? Instead of wasting money on flyovers that ‘fly over’ nothing !