Autos hold city streets to ransom

KOLKATA: From the busy Jadavpur 8B area and the overcrowded crossroads of Gariahat-Rash Behari Avenue in the south to Grant Road-Lenin Sarani crossing in central Kolkata, unruly autos have made a mess of city traffic everywhere in the city.
A law unto themselves, they are a nightmare for motorists during peak hours, stopping, overtaking and parking anywhere they want.On a three-km stretch, they can add an hour to one's travel time. And the authorities don't seem to be willing to do anything about the auto-wallahs' rogue driving or the killer pollution they are responsible for.
The Jadavpur 8B and Central Road junction sees some of the worst of this three-wheeler mess, day in and day out. Autos are parked just about anywhere, taking up over half the road space. TOI did not find any traffic personnel there. And most bizarre of all, some auto drivers were seen controlling traffic largely to let autos pass.
"Autos are parked at random, resulting in tremendous chaos and accidents. There seems to be no solution. All our complaints have been of no use because they have a powerful union. Instead, auto drivers are getting bolder by the day because they realize no one can take them on," said Nitish, the employee of a nearby sweetshop.
Hear this from auto driver Kamal Manna: "Many people complain about the auto stand, so we take turns to maintain the traffic flow. We are just trying to help people."
Motorists bristle at this. "The autos are a nuisance. They park on half the road and clog the other half waiting endlessly for passengers. There are days when we get stuck even at green signals," fumed a driver. Locals and businessmen are no less harassed. "We approached police some time ago and the auto union promised to park autos in a single row. But now it's back to worse," said a shopkeeper.
The situation at Gariahat and Rashbehari Avenue is one of perpetual chaos. Part of the busy road has been cordoned off for development work, and the other half is held hostage by autos. The three-wheelers are parked in two to three rows, leaving a narrow stretch for other vehicles to jostle in.
Parking attendant Maloy Bose said, "Every day we have to argue with auto drivers because they take over authorized parking areas. It's difficult to take on auto-wallahs, they have strong union backing."
"Both sides are blocked, how do you expect vehicles to move?" asked Arindam Ghose, who takes this route daily to office. "No one tries to remove these autos that are parked in double or triple rows."
Auto operators insist they are doing no wrong. Tapan Awasthi of Calcutta Autorickshaw and Auto Riders Union said: "Our union ensures that autos stand in a single row. Some autos try to make a double line but we have told police to take action against them." The traffic constable posted at the spot refused to talk on the issue.
The Grant Street-Lenin Sarani crossing comes next on the trauma list. "It should be named Auto Street instead of Grant Street," said a furious Mala Dutta, a KMC employee, who takes the route regularly. "Autos stand in the middle of the road and refuse to budge until they have got a full load. Other vehicles are jammed in a long line behind, honking away in frustration. They leave hardly any space for other vehicles," she added.
Auto drivers hardly bother about such criticism. "Of course, we do leave some space for other vehicles. There will be a bit of inconvenience because there are so many autos," said one of them, adding: "This is how we have been parking for years. Why should we change now?"
But why aren't the police doing anything about it? K R Hari Rajan, additional commissioner, traffic police, blames the public vehicles department for the mess. "There are far more autorickshaws running than Kolkata's road capacity. Autos should be used as feeder transport, which would relieve pressure on the stands. Metered contract carriage could also be a solution but it is very difficult to manage the current situation because of the ever increasing number of autos," he said.