Kolkata: The change is palpable in the new areas brought under Kolkata Police’s jurisdiction. And the
most visible of the changes is traffic. The utterly chaotic traffic has turned into a most orderly one. Auto stands have vanished from main roads and hawkers have been reined in to some extent.

“It used to take me over an hour to travel from my Naktala house to my Dalhousie office. Since September 1 (when the change happened), the time has reduced to 35 to 38 minutes. It is a major change in our lives,” said Apratim Bose, a senior banker.

But how did the magic happen? A senior Kolkata Police traffic officer said they had simply stuck to the basics. “We did not try anything extraordinary. Of course, our enforcement has been much intensive and persistent. But there is huge room for further improvement with certain small modifications.”

In Behala, where traffic snarls were regular and persisted throughout the day along two major thoroughfares — James Long Sarani and D H Road — the change seems even more dramatic. Even in peak hours, traffic moves at a reasonable speed, much to the relief of commuters. “It is like a morning after a nightmare,” said Surya Narayan Tiwari, a railway employee from Sakher Bazar.

One of the very basics of traffic management is road-marking. In the added area, there was no marking on the road. “The first thing we did is to get our road-marking team to paint stop-lines and zebra crossings, which were needed urgently. The absence of these small yet important aspects made traffic jostle for space in the middle of the crossing, inhibiting faster dispersal,” said another officer.

The city police will gradually put all traffic under CCTV monitoring. Moreover, cameras to capture the registration number plates of errant vehicles will also be installed so that even in non-traffic hours — 10 pm to 7 am — motorists do not dare to violate traffic rules and jump signals. “But for the time being, we trying to maintain a synchronized traffic movement through a wireless communication between one crossing and another,” the officer added.

Rajeshwary Dutta, a teacher from Jadavpur, said: “Kolkata Police is doing a commendable job. Earlier, it used to take me 30 minutes to merely cross Jadavpur police station from my house, which I can now cross in less than 15 minutes. It is a big relief.”

Drishya Basu of Kasba said since traffic movement has remained the same in Kasba and from Ramlal Bazar to Rathtalla, the change has not been complete. “It was madness earlier. Now there is a method in the madness,” smiled Basu.

Aniruddha Bagchi, a banker, felt the change was too good to continue for long. “I am a bit skeptical that the systematic traffic movement which has been brought in by Kolkata Police will be sustained. There is a fresh enthusiasm on the part of the police who are eager to prove a point. If they can sustain it and improve it further, I have to salute them.”