Metro Extension to Garia - An Expensive Utility Gift to a Poor Family

I have seen many metro passangers cribbing about this extension as this has overcrowded metro rail and those from tollygunge used to get a confirmed seat every morning now get packed inside an already crowded train arriving the station. But reverse impact is also very painful, metro has had it's severe impact on the new localities that it is touching.

Garia being one of the oldest business hub in the south bengal (a very old river port on Ganges slowly died as the stream of the river dried off) has always been a terribly busy crowded junction in the south calcutta. This is one of the main business, commercial & transport hub of south bengal. Two large Sate Bus Depots, One Private Bus Depot, Mini Bus Terminus, Auto Rickshws towards dozens of destinations, two large food markets, Grocery wholesalers, multiple garment markets, hotels & restaurants and many reasons has been keeping this place busy & polluted beyond tolerance. If you come here, you will feel that deparments like municipal corporation and police have gone for an indefinite leave.

Now with Metro coming in, there are many pseudo auto & cycle rickshaw stands here and there who target metro passengers. Lot of temporary shops, even on the Tolly's Canal Bridge (east side) and the entire circus is endorsed and controlled by, you know, whom. If you add this new load with the existing state of Garia, it is simply making the condition horrible.

As everybody had sort of accepted the earlier anarchy of garia, they may be taking it as just a delta addition, but if local residents do not raise their concern just now, the situation will go beyond control. Some newspaer suppliments cover pieces of this but overall there is no organized effort to highlight this extremely poor adminisrtrative condition of Garia. being a part of Kolkata, it is not even of Kolkata standard.

With metro coming in to such a lawless land, very soon there will be only hawkers but no buyers as the buyers need at least to walk up to the shop which they won't be able to, there will be auto rickshaws with the driver peeping out of the window, but nobody boarding in as for sure wlaking through the alleys would be a better alternative.

Let us either stand up or wait till our place dies.