Make more streets vehicle-free in Kolkata: Activists

After the West Bengal government's decision to make the city's entertainment hub Park Street free of all vehicles on Christmas evening, activists are trying to make it a regular affair to give pedestrians more freedom to use roads.
Iftekhar Ahsan, who runs 'Calcutta Walks', said thousands of people could join the Christmas celebrations at Park Street because revellers could move around freely as there were no vehicles around.
"We want pedestrians to be given more rights to move around. Cars are a necessary evil but they should be controlled as much as possible. The government should make places like New Market and Park Street free of vehicles more frequently," he said.

Pradeep Kakkar, who along with his wife Bonani, runs the NGO 'People United for Better Living in Calcutta' (PUBLIC), said Kolkata should be made more walkable with initiatives like banning entry of motorised vehicles on weekends on certain roads.
He suggested that the authorities should ban vehicles on weekends on some shopping and entertainment centres in the city like Lindsay Street and Park Street.
Activists say this will not only help in reducing pollution, but also ensure a healthy way of transport - walking.

"Walking slows down the pace of life. You tend to minutely observe everything around you. For example, walking in Park Street will amaze you as it has some very old architectural wonders which remain ignored now," Ahsan said.

Vinay Jaju, a sustainability activist who runs the NGO 'Switch ON', said Kolkata should follow the model of Gurgaon where the plying of motor vehicles is banned on a particular stretch of road every Sunday morning.
"That is what some European cities are also doing. Roads are meant for the use of people and not necessarily for motor vehicles," he said, adding that cities should move away from a car-centric approach.
Vineeta Mansata, who runs an environmental book shop called 'Earth Care Books' off Park Street, said the future lies in making cities more pedestrian-friendly.
"The logic should be to minimise the traffic on the roads. With less number of vehicles, it is easy to manage traffic," she said.