Call to save heritage and boost public transport: The changes Calcuttans want in 2025
Telegraph | 3 January 2025
Another new year has come but many things in Calcutta have not changed in many years.
On Day I of 2025, many Calcuttans listed for this newspaper things they would want to change in the city they call home.
They don’t want to worry about getting back home late after work. They want more public transport, clear and clean pavements, less plastic and more.
A Metro wishlist, based on conversations with a cross section of Calcuttans on New Year’s Day.
Night transport
A city that works late and sleeps late hardly has public transport after 9pm. Whatever little remains, vanishes after 10.30. All of Calcutta wants that to change.
A 40-year-old executive said she has to ask her husband to pick her up after work assignments that continue late into the evening.
“Yellow taxis demand unreasonable fares, Uber drivers will cancel your rides and there are no buses after 9pm. I do not know why our authorities cannot change this. All Indian metros have much better night transport options,” she said.
The penultimate Metro train (north-south corridor) leaves Kavi Subhas at 9.40pm and Dakshineswar at 9.33pm. The last train leaves Dum and Kavi Subhas at 10.40pm. “Metro trains should run late into the night and at greater frequency,” she said.
Public transport, please
Buses are dwindling and people are increasingly dependent on expensive and unreliable private transport. A traffic police officer said the number of cars on Calcutta’s roads has soared in the past five or six years.
A faltering public transport system and the consequent rise in the number of private vehicles are bad on many counts: air pollution rises, the city becomes congested, which in turn further increases air pollution, and commuting becomes a challenge for those who cannot afford a car.
Phase out plastic
Plastic items are being dumped on vacant plots and into ponds choking the city’s drainage system.
The long-term impact would be far worse.
On paper, there is a ban on the sale and use of single-use plastic bags across Bengal. In reality, such bags are being used everywhere — local groceries, sweet shops and roadside stalls, among others.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), which is supposed to enforce the ban in the city, says the production has to be stopped if single-use plastic items have to be eliminated. The state pollution control board puts the onus on the KMC.
Caught in the blame game, the city is suffering. Canals are filled with plastic items, slowing the passage of rainwater.
Treasure heritage
Once the capital of British India, Calcutta’s built heritage can rival some of the world’s top cities. The concern for Calcutta’s vanishing heritage is growing among its citizenry as the realtor’s axe falls on old and beautiful structures at an alarming frequency.
India’s capital till 1911 falls several steps behind other cities when it comes to protecting and promoting these buildings.
“Barring a few of the most popular buildings, most structures that are on the KMC’s heritage list are poorly maintained. Many more buildings need to be included on the heritage list. The state government should frame a policy and involve private corporations and PSUs to share a part of their corporate social responsibility funds for protecting the heritage structures,” said conservation architect Partha Ranjan Das, a member of the state heritage commission.
Road discipline
Jumping lanes, speeding through the amber light, honking, and stopping in the middle of the road — the number of offences Calcutta’s drivers routinely commit is difficult to count and tell.
Driving in Calcutta is a test of nerves and so is crossing a road.
An utterly unpleasant cacophony greets anyone on the streets. Add to that vehicles of all sizes trying to weave through traffic. One look at the city’s buses will tell how dangerously they are driven.
“I hope Calcuttans start behaving a little better with their cars this year. Honking unnecessarily will not open up a congested road. Or abusing a fellow driver,” said a septuagenarian.
A senior Kolkata Police officer admitted that the number of prosecutions for honking was few. “It is very difficult to understand which vehicle is honking and everyone denies that he or she has honked,” the officer said.
The reason would sound flimsy to most Calcuttans.
Save yellow taxis, trams
Impolite drivers, regular refusals and rickety vehicles with dirty interiors are among the factors contributing to the downfall of yellow taxis, which were once synonymous with Calcutta’s roads. The steep rise in fuel prices and surge in the popularity of app cabs have provided momentum to the fall.
Many Calcuttans said they would take a yellow taxi provided they found one that agreed to a metered fare. “The government should raise the fares and the drivers should stick to the approved rate,” said one of them.
The emotional appeal of yellow taxis is similar to that of trams.
Trams in Calcutta celebrated 150 years in 2023 but they are an almost extinct mode of transport. “Trams are celebrated in other parts of the world. They are clean transport and efficient as well. We should have more trams but what is happening is exactly the opposite,” said a Charu Market resident.
He would frequently ride a tram on the 24/29 route connecting Tollygunge and Ballygunge. The route is among the several that are no longer functional.
Tolly’s Nullah
What could have been the charm of Calcutta now looks like a pool of filth. The human settlements along the banks make things worse. If the settlers cannot be evicted, the waterway should at least be maintained properly.
“Every time I take an auto to Tollygunge Metro, I have to press a handkerchief against my nose while passing the canal,” said a Behala resident.
A senior KMC official said the civic body has drawn up a project to desilt and clean Tolly’s Nullah. Work will start this year, he said.
Declutter our city
Remove illegal advertisements, rein in hawkers and make space for pedestrians: this was a unanimous cry.
Hawkers have encroached on almost all pavements around New Market, in Gariahat, Hatibagan and Chandni Chowk, and along Lenin Sarani. They should be inside the area marked for them.
“Get rid of the ugly tarpaulin sheets, which are an eyesore. I was feeling ashamed when I took a friend out on a walk in the Chandni Chowk area because of the ugly stalls. The government should force hawkers to clean their stalls and paint them so they look good,” said a Calcuttan.
The hoardings are another eyesore. They are everywhere, ugly and unsafe.
Additional reporting by Debraj Mitra and Kinsuk Basu