South City traffic hits P A Shah Rd

Prince Anwar Shah Road has seen a dramatic rise in traffic volume and traffic jams since the opening of the Rs 650 crore South City mall and things are expected to get only worse as the plan to build a flyover to combat the traffic chaos will take years.

The mall opened on January 16 this year.

According to Sanjeev Mehra, vice-president, mall operations, footfall is over 20,000 on the weekdays, 45,000 on Saturdays and higher on Sundays.

The 1 million sq ft mall has room for 134 stores, with 65 stores open now.

According to local residents, one reason for the traffic chaos is lack of parking inside the mall.

The mall is designed to provide parking space for 1300 four-wheelers and 500 two-wheelers spread over nine levels, but only one parking level is open.

According to a security personnel at the shopping mall, "The other parking levels have not been marked. Work is in progress and it would take weeks for all the levels to get marked."

The traffic lane in front of South City is cut off from the lane opposite by a lane-separation barrier stretching for 1km.

"People stop cars in the middle of the road to get off and walk across the road instead of walking for 1 km, creating more traffic chaos," says local resident Jaya Roy.

Residents and the local councillor, Ratan Dey, recently organised a roadblock in front of South City demanding measures to decongest traffic.

Dey alleged pedestrians were facing problems as South City authorities had built two ramps on footpaths, forcing pedestrians to walk on the road.

After last week's protests, South City authorities removed one of the ramps, but left the other one intact.

As a result, pedestrians continue to walk on the car lane.

According to Dey's estimate, thousands of cars will enter the South City compound daily after the estate is completed, with multiplex, school and residences.

Mehra claims the state government will construct a flyover in front of the mall, from Lake Gardens to Jadavpur police station, to ease the congestion, and that South City will part-finance the flyover.

No date has been fixed for this "" the quickest flyover in Kolkata, on A J C Bose Road took over two years to build.

According to officials of Spencer's, Pantaloons and Lucera jewellery brand, "Shops inside the mall will see more shoppers if traffic chaos could be tackled and there is adequate parking space for all."

According to a Lucera official, "Proper mall management is missing. There are other malls too in the city but none disrupts traffic like this one."