Plan for Transport in Ganga Sagar Mela
ON MAIN LAND See & RatesFaresMore than 500 buses will be deployed by different STU’s to carry pilgrims from Howrah Station and Outram Ghat / Babu Ghat in Kolkata to LOT 8 (95 KM) and Namkhana (109 KM) and those will give services in round trips throughout the day from 10th January.
Apart from this Chartered Buses (800 or more) coming from different states and also from different parts of this state and a large number of small vehicles, all carrying pilgrims, move to LOT 8 and Namkhana from 10th January onwards.
The following arrangements will be made to manage and regulate this huge traffic as well as to ensure safety and security of the pilgrims and their smooth movement during the Mela.
- P.S. to give consent. Secured and ready with approach road for parking of 30-40 buses.
- At Hospital ground at Diamond Harbour under Diamond Harbour Municipality right on NH-117. Secured and ready with approach road for parking of 60-70 buses.
- At Bibek Maidan under Kulpi P.S. on right side of NH-117 on ground used with approach road for parking of 30-40 buses. It needs minimum work for upkeeping the ground and approach roads.
At the Buffer Zones the following amenities are to be provided.
- Adequate illumination
- Drinking water facility
- Temporary toilets
- Mobile phone recharging stations
- Phone Booths
Security of the pilgrims To control the pressure of pilgrims at LOT 8, as decided in the meetings, arrangements for ‘Buffer Zones’ for chartered buses at the following points may be made, to detain them for a certain period of time, as may be required, from 12th January afternoon to 13th January afternoon.
PARKING LOT AT LOT 8 & HARWOOD POINT
It has already been decided that no vehicle, other than Govt. vehicle, should go beyond Harwood Point after 9 AM on 13th January, 2010 and accordingly the following arrangements are to be made.
- LOT 8 Bus Stand
Chartered Buses and Small Vehicles will be allowed to be parked at the LOT 8 Bus Stand upto 9 AM on 13th January.
Chartered Buses will be parked from the rear area of the stand.
Small Vehicles will be parked at the earmarked area of the stand.
Area adjacent to the entry point of the stand is to be kept free.
Approach road facilities within the parking area are to be provided to reach the furthest point.
Usual Parking Area at Harwood Point
It is to be used for both Chartered & Route buses as well as for Small Vehicles.
A separate area near the entry point is to be kept for Small Vehicles (on the left side) and route buses (on the right side).
Rest of the parking lot is to be divided in 3 / 4 parts depending on the approach roads. Ramps are to be widened and extended. Approach road facilities within the parking area are to be provided to reach the furthest point.
Parking of chartered buses is to be made from the furthest part to ensure maximum utilization.
- New Parking area for Small Vehicles
A new parking area for Small Vehicles, on the northern side of New Road near Harwood Point will be created. It is only to be used after the parking area for Small Vehicles at Harwood Point is almost filled up.
The pilgrims alighting at this area will take the river-bank road to move towards the jetty. Proper barricades and approach roads are to be arranged.
- Bus stand at Namkhana
The chartered buses will be parked at the parking area provided at Namkhana at usual place like previous years.
At the parking areas the following amenities are to be provided.
- Adequate illumination
- Drinking water facility
- Temporary toilets
- Pilgrim shed
- Medical camps
- Guide map of movement plan to jetties
- Police camp
- Traffic management
- Mobile phone recharging stations / Telephone booths
AT LOT 8
The land between the bus stand at LOT 8 and parking area at Harwood Point, will be used as the Buffer Zone to hold the pressure of pilgrims both at peak hours and low-tide hours.
Channels from Buffer Zone to lead roads to different jetties are to be specified in consultation with police authority with provisions of required drop-gates.
The provisions of adequate drinking water, toilets, illumination and ticket-counters for vessel are to be made at this point. Enough food-stalls and Mobile phone recharging stations / Telephone booths may also be organized.
Police-camp, health-camp and fire-station are to be provided also as per requirement.
AT NAMKHANA
Pilgrim shed at usual place at Namkhana will be kept ready with all amenities for the waiting pilgrims. Since the launch service from Namkhana is not operated beyond 4:00 PM, a large number of pilgrims are to wait at Namkhana till the next morning.
Buses from Howarah Station and Outram Ghat will move through Diamond Harbor Road (NH-117) upto Kashinagar More and reach LOT 8 Harwood Point parking lot.
Considering the pressure of pilgrims at Lot 8 the flow of buses will be controlled by police authority on NH-117 keeping them detained at bus-buffer-zones at 3 points for required time period. Communication between Lot 8 control room and the buffer-zones will help to control the flow as per requirement.
The crowd of pilgrims will be directed, only after they have their vessel-tickets, to the channels to the specific jetty, where from vessels will move at that instant time. Communication from the control room regarding movement of vessels will help to guide the pilgrims to right direction. Pressure of pilgrims within the channels will be controlled with the help of multiple drop-gates. Pilgrims will not be allowed to move on gang-way until the vessel is ready to be loaded.
A control room at Harwood Point manned by representatives of Civil, Police and NGO will have continuous communication with main control room and jetties to co-ordinate movement of pilgrims to jetties.
All the chartered buses will be directed from Kashinagar point to Namkhana upto 2 PM.
Traffic management on NH-117 at Behala, Thakurpukur, Pailan, Amtala and Diamond Harbour is very important to ensure free flow of traffic. Police authority should take the following actions.
- Encroachment on both sides should be removed.
- Parking of vehicles on the main carriage way should be allowed.
- Markets/ Hats should not be allowed on roads.
- Movement of slow-moving vehicle should be regulated.
- At Amtala pedestrian way should be restricted by guard-rails.
- No vehicle should be allowed to be parked on New Road from Kashinagar to LOT 8. Adequate arrangements of break-down vans are to be made to remove stationery vehicles, if required.
SIGNAGE
Proper signage with directions in English and Hindi for all the arrangements will help management of the pilgrim movement in desired manner.
Type of signage and their proper positioning are to be detailed in consultation with police authority.
ON ISLAND
Nearly 200 private buses will be deployed to carry pilgrims on the route Kachuberia to Sagar (30 KM) and 40 mini-buses will ply on the route Chemaguri to Sagar (10 Km) and those will give services in round trips throughout the day from 10th January.
Apart from this nearly 150 small vehicles also carry pilgrims from Kachuberia to Sagar and nearly 20 small vehicles ply on the route from Chemaguri to Sagar from 10th January onwards. For operation of small vehicles special effort to operate ‘Pre-paid Taxi Booth’ both at Kachuberia & Sagar points is in consideration to reduce harassment of the pilgrims.
The following arrangements will be made to manage and regulate this huge traffic on a single road from Kachuberia to Sagar.
At Kachuberia the arrangements for Bus Stand and roads from jetty ghats to bus stands will be like previous year and unaltered.
AT CHEMAGURIAt Chemaguri also the arrangements for Bus Stand and roads from jetty ghats to bus stands will be like previous year and unaltered.
AT SAGARThe bus stand for Chemaguri (SBS-III) near Helipad will remain unaltered.
The small vehicles stand near Helipad ground will also remain unchanged.
Only the Kachuberia bound buses will use 2 (two) bus stands – one at the usual Kachuberia Bus Stand (SBS-I) and the other (SBS-II) on the ground beside 5 No. Road near LARICA Guest House. This had obviously reduced the pressure of loading and unloading of pilgrims.
Only on 13th January the buses on their return journey from Sagar to Kachuberia will be detained for certain period of time at 2 buffer-zones to reduce the pressure of pilgrims on the jetties at Kachuberia in low-tide periods, if required.
TRAFFIC MANAGEMENTAt Kachuberia the flow of buses from unloading point to loading point (Main Bus Stand) is to be regulated properly, so that discharge of pilgrims by bus to Sagar is faster. Carriage way of the main road is to be kept free from pilgrims to ensure smooth flow of traffic.
The fleet of 200 buses plying on route Kachuberia to Sagar is to be divided in 2 groups –
(ii) SBS-II - These buses are to be operated from Sagar SBS-II Bus Stand – 60 nos.
Movement of small vehicles will be regulated to follow the routes noted below.
(ii) From Helipad Ground via 5 No. Road - Light House Road – Kalibazar while moving towards Kachuberia or Chemaguri.
No small vehicle will be allowed to ply from Kalibazar to Sagar through Sagar-Kachuberia Road.
SIGNAGEProper signage with directions in English and Hindi for all the arrangements will help management of the pilgrim movement in desired manner.
Type of signage and their proper positioning are to be detailed in consultation with police authority.
ON RIVER (WATER TRANSPORT)
No vessel or launch or any other boat will be allowed to carry pilgrims or passengers from LOT 8 and Namkhana without the permission of the District Authority during the Mela.
Every vessel or launch will be allowed to carry pilgrims or passengers only to its maximum capacity certified in the license. The license number and the passenger capacity are to be displayed prominently on both sides of the vessel or launch.
PILGRIM TRANSPORT
A. LOT 8 - KACHUBERIAMore than 20 vessels will be deployed by WBSTC and HNJPSS to carry pilgrims from LOT 8 to Kachuberia and those will give services in round trips throughout the day from 10th January.
4 jetties on both the sides at LOT 8 and Kachuberia are available for operating services in high tide hours. In low tide hours the services are reduced.
To cope up with the pressure of pilgrims LCT’s are used to carry bulk load on the last 2 days in every year. This year it is considered to use the LCT’S to carry the pilgrims from in a routine manner against realization of due fare, except for specific few hours, when LCT will be used only for carrying vehicles only.
Nearly 100 wooden launches will be placed by BLOA for carrying pilgrims from Namkhana to Chemaguri and the launch service between Namkhana and Chemaguri is allowed to operate between 6-00 AM. To 4 PM.
4 jetties at Namkhana and 3 jetties at Chemaguri are available for operating services in high tide hours. In low tide hours the availability of jetties is reduced.
Officials will be posted at the jetties at Chemaguri to sign the log books of the launches reporting with the aim to increase the number of trips.
LCT MOVEMENT
4 (four) LCT vessels, namely M.V. Raja Gopalachari, M.V. Pathabahi, M.V. Meghamallar & M.V. Zakir Hussain, will be kept in operation from LOT 8 to Kachuberia and vice-versa to carry vehicles, having permits issued by the District Authority only, across the river. This operation will be done from the LCT jetties on both the sides.
No small vehicle, other than permitted Govt. vehicle, will be allowed to be transshipped to Island.
No chartered bus, only unless specially permitted by RTO, South 24 Parganas, will be allowed to be transshipped to the Island.
Buses to be taken to the Island with the permits, issued by RTO, South 24 Parganas for carrying pilgrims to Sagar from Kachuberia and Chemaguri, will be transshipped from LOT 8 to Kachuberia from 7th to 10th January.
Buses and vehicles, carrying NGO’s and permitted by District Authority, will be transshipped on 9th and 10th January.
Regional Transport Officer
South 24 Parganas