Wedding cars, Metro work choke traffic on VIP Road

Kolkata: A packed wedding season coupled with Metro construction work on VIP Road have been slowing down traffic. This has forced Bidhannagar cops to call owners and managers of 30-odd banquet halls between Lake Town and airport and request them not to allow illegal parking by wedding guests. “On all wedding days, we had been witnessing slow traffic on VIP Road, mostly because of rampant parking of vehicles in front of banquet halls there and also due to impromptu processions taken out by wedding guests without informing us beforehand. It has been causing a lot of trouble. Thus, we have asked the banquet managers to ensure there is no illegal parking and to ask wedding guests not to block the road with processions,” said an officer. There are around 50 big and small banquet halls and wedding venues between Lake Town and airport on both sides of VIP Road. Most of them have parking spots but they fewer than the number of cars that arrive at the venues. According to police, on days of weddings, traffic slows down on both flanks between early evening and night when the majority of guests arrive.There is also Metro construction going on for four nights a week — between Monday and Friday — that shuts down the Ultadanga-bound flank between airport and Kaikhali. Two-way traffic plies along the airport-bound flank between 11pm and 5am. This will go on till the last week of February.“Reaching home is already troublesome at night because of the Metro work. Now, on wedding dates, the trouble multiplies because of long snarls on both flanks of VIP Road where people dance and burst crackers, halting traffic,” said Kaikhali resident Gourab Dutta.In a meeting held at Baguiati traffic guard, venue managers were called in and told to follow certain measures, including parking most of the vehicles on the banquet hall premises or guiding them to proper parking spots. “We are also asking them to depute private guards to prevent illegal and double-lane parking,” an officer said.Banquet managers said they ask wedding guests not to block roads but admitted they fail on most occasions. “We have space for around 40 vehicles in our compound. But if the number exceeds that, we have t to ask guests to park outside. But we never encourage blocking of thoroughfares,” said Mithilesh Mishra, manager of Bika Banquet in Lake Town. The manager of a banquet hall in Raghunathpur said he had sought help from cops to manage illegal parking. “Guests don’t pay heed to us when we ask them not to park outside. It would be better if cops help us,” he said.