Flyovers and plans to concretise tram tracks seem perfect on the drawing board. But when these projects are implemented, planners seldom take existing traffic load into consideration. And this has left Kolkata Police a disgruntled lot.

"Our views are sought only as a matter of formality. In most cases, the plans have already been finalised and there is hardly any scope for changes. We control the traffic on the roads and know its demands, but nobody is willing to give us a patient hearing," a senior traffic police officer said.

The traffic police wing has never been against new projects. In fact, it has welcomed plans to make vehicular movement swifter. But officers complain that whenever work starts on a new project — the Metro extension or new flyovers, for example — agencies do not bother about keeping free space to channelise traffic. "Construction agencies dump material, encroach on the roads and throw traffic out of gear," the officer said.

"We have no chance to plan out future traffic proposals, as managing peak-hour traffic is harrowing enough. We have told almost every agency that implements new projects to not block entire roads," said a senior traffic police officer.

Here’s an example. Initially, the Hooghly River Bridge Commissioners (HRBC) had wanted to take up concretisation on all roads with tram tracks. The traffic police wing objected to this. It was decided that roads will be given to the agencies in phases. Some roads were so narrow that blocking them entirely was the only option. Rabindra Sarani was one such stretch. But more often than not, agencies cannot fulfil time commitments, said an officer.

The past five years have been harrowing for the traffic police wing. The number of cars has shot up. On top of that, construction agencies partially blocked busy streets such as AJC Bose Road, JL Nehru Road and Gariahat Road.

However, the transport department doesn’t buy this interpretation of how things have shaped up. "It’s not true that projects are conceptualised without calculating their impact on existing traffic. The encroachment factor is always taken into account. In fact, we always try to point out alternative routes for traffic. But the city police, for reasons known only to them, do not want to divert traffic along these routes. Transport projects are very important even if they are futuristic. If roads are clogged, traffic police have to think out plans to solve problems. Raising objections is no solution," a senior transport department officer said.