Series of rallies halt Calcutta traffic, motorists and pedestrians face torments
Telegraph | 11 April 2025
A string of rallies in Calcutta, protesting the scrapping of school jobs and the new Waqf law, crippled traffic on Thursday, tormenting motorists and pedestrians alike.
At least six processions crisscrossed the city between 7am and 4pm, bringing traffic to its knees. Almost every major road saw traffic slowing down, but central Calcutta was the worst affected.
Most rallies culminated at Ramleela Maidan in Moulali, where a large demonstration protested the passage of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2025 in both houses of parliament.
Thousands of people marched in another rally from Sealdah to Esplanade in the afternoon as a gesture of solidarity with the aggrieved school staff who lost their jobs following a Supreme Court order last Thursday.
Many who happened to travel through any of the rally routes got stuck. Most of them had to take a detour to reach their destinations. Schoolchildren returning home in school buses, cars, pool cars and public transport bore the maximum brunt.
AJC Bose Road, Chowringhee, SN Banerjee Road, Lenin Sarani, Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Road, JL Nehru Road, Rabindra Sarani, Bentinck Street, Dorina crossing, Central Avenue, BB Ganguly Street, Ganesh Chandra Avenue, the Moulali crossing and Park Circus crossing were worst affected.
Thursday, being a weekday, inconvenienced thousands of commuters and office goers. Police said efforts were made to run the traffic on at least one flank of the affected roads through which the rallies marched. “But the traffic was hit considerably. Normal traffic flow resumed after 4.30pm,” said an officer of Kolkata Police’s traffic department.
Joseph Chacko, a teacher of St James’ School, crossed a distance of 200m on AJC Bose Road in his car in one hour. Crossing the stretch on foot would have taken less than five minutes.
He started from school around 1.30pm; around 2.30pm he had only crossed Pratt Memorial School. Chacko was headed to his home in Behala.
“I reached home at 3.40pm. It took me over two hours, while usually I reach home in 45-50 minutes on other days,” he said.
Many parents, especially in schools in the city centre, were delayed in picking up their children from school because of the traffic snarl.
Tania Das reached her daughter’s school in Minto Park, 30 minutes after dispersal.
“It took me about 40 minutes to cross the Parama flyover, which usually takes 15 minutes. After getting down at Park Circus from the flyover, I stopped the car a little ahead of Beckbagan and started walking. The school was over at 1pm, but I picked my daughter up at 1.35pm,” said Das, who was travelling from VIP Road.
The traffic chaos continued late into the afternoon.
Metro spotted several buses and private cars stuck at the Esplanade crossing around 2.30pm.
“I was stuck at multiple signals between the Park Street crossing and the Esplanade intersection. The journey usually takes five to seven minutes. Today, it took me around 30 minutes to cross that stretch,” said Suthirtha Basu, an IT professional.
Another Calcuttan, taking her mother to a relative’s home on CIT Road, got stuck at the Sealdah bridge for 30 minutes around 1pm. “Traffic came to a complete standstill,” said Sucheta Guha, who came from north Calcutta.
Thousands of marchers, many from the suburbs, left home early in the morning to reach Ramleela Maidan. One rally moved along Vivekananda Road, KK Tagore Street, Kalakar Street and Brabourne Road. Another took Howrah Bridge, Strand Road, MG Road and Hariram Goenka Street. Another reached the venue via AJC Bose Road and Moulali.
Several adjoining roads near the stretches through which the processions passed were affected as a ripple effect.