KOLKATA: With most schools set to reopen on June 13, police, after a meeting on Friday, decided to disallow parking on all roads leading to school main gates.
“The month-long closure revealed some vehicles are being parked in no-parking zones near schools. We will return to the old system from next week so there is no confusion among school-bound motorists,” said an officer.
Joint CP (traffic) Santosh Pandey said schools had not been operating their usual hours before the summer vacations. “However, now that they will be back to their old timings, we need to ascertain how to segregate the traffic converging from different schools. If required, we might request for more staggered timings,” said Pandey.
All traffic guards have been asked to ensure official parking lots are completely utilized in the morning before allowing additional parking in adjoining roads.
“We will not allow on-spot additional parking slots unless the official ones are filled up. Direction of traffic flow might be slightly tweaked as well,” an officer said.
Kolkata Traffic Police has also decided to reach out to students, parents and school administrations to popularize carpooling. As part of a long-term strategy, a dedicated team of officers from Traffic Training School has been asked to visit some south Kolkata schools and present before each stakeholder the advantages of carpooling.
“We have decided on the specifics of this drive, including the schools that we will visit once the summer vacations are over. A reputable school near Gariahat will be our first stop. The initial plan is to reach out to senior-wing students, preferably in classes IX-XII, as they can manage themselves and there are higher chances their parents will agree to them carpooling. In the longer run, these students can act as our ambassadors to inspire the middle- and junior-school students,” said an officer. Sources said their presentation will talk of reduced costs, accessibility, and environmental benefits.
Once the presentations in the Gariahat-Ballygunge schools are done by next month, cops will target schools in the Park Street-Park Circus belt from July.
Krishna Damani, trustee of South Point, said cops were yet to contact them on the post-summer break traffic. “We had a long interaction with cops earlier. We are working on suggestions shared at that time, almost all of which have been implemented,” Damani said.
With inputs from Aheli Banerjee
