Monday, October 13, 2008

South City mall attracting visitors and traffic jam

On 16th Jan. 2008 Eastern India got its largest shopping mall, the South City Mall. This one million sq. ft. swanky mall is located on Prince Anwar Shah Road, just opposite Jodhpur Park. Situated in one of the prime and posh locations of south Kolkata, it was obvious that right from the first day it will be successful in attracting huge number of enthusiasts that include genuine shoppers, food lovers, window shoppers, couples and school and college bunking students. The ambience and centrally air conditioning system inside the mall is perfectly equipped to provide comfort to its visitors. But the road opposite the mall is not at all equipped or sufficient to take the heavy traffic jam, which is an immediate outcome of the mall. The Prince Anwar Shah Road that starts from the Prince Anwar Shah masjid and continues till the Jadavpur Police station was wide enough to handle normal traffic situation even in the busiest hours of the day. But the coming of the South City mall has posed a serious problem to the traffic condition on this road. During the peak hours of the day the road remains block for long time causing ample sound and air pollution in the area. The snarls and black smoke resulting out of the vehicles caught in the jam makes the environment like a war zone. Especially during the weekends, holidays and before any festive season the situation gets worse. Amazingly at this time one can witness a mad rush among the visitors to enter the mall. Large number of visitors throngs the mall like any other popular tourist spot in Kolkata. So many visitors also attract vendors, balloonwala, jhalmuriwala, phuchkawala, ice creamwala, panwala etc. near the mall. As a result everything comes to a halt opposite the mall. Even the traffic surgent who tries hard to manage the situation, fails miserably most of the time. One can often see school children looking anxiously out of their school bus and family members of serious patients sitting tensed inside an ambulance while caught in the jam. This particular road serve as a major connector with EM Bypass, Ruby General Hospital, Jadavpur University, South City College, Dhakuria, Golpark and Gariahat.

There is no doubt that the creators of this fabulous mall have been successful to draw large number of visitor everyday, but at the same time they have created lots of pain for this area. At the same time the traffic authority of Kolkata also needs to be blamed for their callous planning. However, till now it seems that everyone is happy with this mall, so not a single article or news can be witnessed regarding this issue in the local newspapers and T.V. channels.
But this happiness will only stay for a short time.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have written on a very pertinent topic. This malls are becoming a menace for the society. Write more on such topics.

robseo said...

Yes it is right many people come in south city mall for marketing . but out side of mall other temporary vender halt . for this who gone in Ruby General Hospital, Jadavpur University, South City College,they face a big problem. I think KMC should be proper take stape in palce. They requite more traffic.From WWW.ebizzkolkata.com we hope KMC take proper stape for people .

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