Traffic management, roadside revamp goals before extravaganza

Roadside beautification along with streamlining of traffic movement will be done in Salt Lake, Sector V and New Town in view of the festive season and FIFA

Under-17 football World Cup scheduled to be held in September and October respectively.

This was decided at a high-level meeting held at HIDCO Bhavan on Thursday afternoon.

Debashis Sen, chairman of HIDCO and additional Chief Secretary IT&E, Alapan Bandyopadhyay, additional Chief Secretary, Transport, Gyanwant Singh, Commissioner, Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate along with senior officials of HIDCO, NKDA, NDITA, Transport Department, Metro Railway and Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate were part of the meeting.

Entrance to Novotel will be upgraded and unused construction material medians and roadflanks will be removed. More signages will be displayed and traffic diversions will be finalised.

The 18 km long Biswa Bangla Sarani connecting Eastern Metropolitan Bypass with VIP Road via Salt Lake and New Town will carry huge volumes of traffic during Durga Puja followed by the FIFA Under-17 World Cup extravaganza which is supposed to be the biggest spectacle at the Salt Lake since its inception in the 1970s. Thousands of people come to the city from North 24 Parganas by road using the Biswa Bangla Sarani. There will be huge chaos if the traffic management scheme is not prepared beforehand.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has described the FIFA Under-17 World Cup as a "huge honour for Kolkata" and Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has prepared an elaborate scheme to beautify the areas surrounding Yuva Bharati Krirangan.

The areas surrounding the stadium will be brightly illuminated as the matches will be held at night. The final will be held on October 28.

BMC will install statues as a part of the beautification programme. To make the event a grand success, proper planning is a must and it was decided that a committee headed by the Commissioner, Bidhannagar Police Commissionerate will be set up to look after the work and the committee members will meet periodically to take a stock of the situation.