A Jam-Free Space

It may not be public yet, but there’s good news at last for harassed Calcuttans on the bandhs and rallies front. The Left Front leadership and the state administration are finally considering some reasonable restrictions on the unbridled misuse of main roads on weekdays. Among the proposed steps: programmes of limited duration to be allowed on specific roads on holidays-weekends, more venues in north and south Calcutta with provision for traffic movement even along roads where people may be marching, human chains to be broken up to allow traffic movement at crossings. "If the police handle matters well, we are confident the impact on common people will be minimised," says a CPI(M) state committee member.