Office traffic back, puja barricade blues yet to fade in Kolkata
Times of India | 7 October 2025as the city returns to routine post-Puja break on Tuesday.
The city's roads remain choked the temporary barricades and decorative gates. Despite detailed traffic management plans by Kolkata Police, congestion had plagued major intersections and arterial routes.
These structures occupy vital carriageway space and cause long queues of vehicles even during off-peak hours. "Large decorative gates and bamboo barricades that once guided pandal-hoppers now eat into road space, turning two-lane stretches into single-lane choke points," said a traffic and transportation planner with the transport department.
"We hope things will be in place in a couple of days as the decorators are working overtime to dismantle the barricades and gates. Any festivity of this scale has some spill-over effects," said Somnath Das, of a Santoshpur Puja committee.
"The late removal of temporary structures often prolongs the disruption for days after the festival. Authorities, particularly Kolkata traffic police, issue reminders to Puja committees to clear the installations promptly," said Somendra Mohan Ghosh, a resident of the Lake area.
Bottlenecks persist at crucial junctions such as Gariahat, Ultadanga, Park Circus, Rashbehari, D H Road, Khidderpore, S N Banerjee Road, and College Street. "Even short trips are taking twice as long on these stretches," said a traffic sergeant. "The gates should have been dismantled right after immersion day," he said. Debasish Kumar, a key Puja organiser and member of the mayor-in-council, Kolkata Municipal Corporation said puja organisers were urged to cooperate with the KMC workers for their removal.
