Flash protests at busy crossings throw evening traffic out of gear
Times of India | 10 April 2025
12 Kolkata: Flash protests against against 25,752 teachers losing their jobs threw traffic out of gear in south Kolkata on Wednesday evening. Though each of the demonstrations at Park Circus, Kasba and Gariahat crossing lasted only five to 15 minutes, the chaos on the road persisted for hours, worst affecting office-goers returning home.
Police said they were taken unawares and had to tread carefully, especially after the lathicharge outside the Kasba DI office in the afternoon.
The most impactful among the protests was the one at Gariahat around 5 pm, just when students of many schools and a section of office-goers were on their way back home. Among those caught in the protest were also Chaitra Sale shoppers. "While protesters have every right to stage demonstrations, choosing to stop traffic at such an important crossing can affect the sympathy they carry. Thankfully, they showed maturity and dispersed quickly after making their point," said Chetla resident Swapna Hazra.
The worst-hit stretch was the Kasba connector between Kasba Bosepukur and Gariahat. "The participants walked towards Gariahat but stopped at every crossing for a couple of minutes. As a result, the tail-end of the slow-moving vehicles on the connector reached Kasba. We advised many vehicles from Bypass to take a detour through Anwar Shah connector or Haltu," said a Kasba Traffic Guard officer.
After the clash between teachers and non-teaching staff on one side and police on the other at the school DI office, cops at Gariahat and Park Circus showed restraint and evidently managed to convince protesters not to stop but to walk on. While several of the affected teachers, who had gone to the DI office in the afternoon, joined the demonstration at Gariahat, too. Besides, several new faces as well as a small group that had gathered around Park Circus earlier were seen at Gariahat.
A teacher, Pratap Ray Chowdhury, said, "We are qualified, which is why we are protesting on the streets. Yet, police hit us with batons. What wrong did we do to demand our jobs back?"
A Lalbazar officer said they had videographed the protests. "There was planning before the execution of the agitations," he said. KP commissioner Manoj Verma said, "We have sympathy and respect for them. If they give us proper intimation, we will try to facilitate their programme to the utmost possible level."