NDITA takes steps to address traffic woes in Sector-V during exam days

Kolkata: Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NDITA) is set to prepare a scheme to facilitate the smooth flow of traffic in Sector-V on the days of various examinations.

The TCS Gitobitan Digital Exam Centre in Sector-V is one of the biggest of its kind in the country. This is said to be the world's largest digital assessment centre where 4,000 examinees can sit at one time and write their papers.

IIMs, IITs, Banks, Advanced JEEs and many more often select their candidates through this centre. Examinations of all kinds are conducted here routinely throughout the year.

Senior officials of NDITA along with police and engineers of the agency inspected the surroundings in course of a busy exam day and found that a scheme needs to be prepared to ensure smooth movement of traffic for examinees as well as their guardians and parents.

Long queues of students were found at the entrance gates. As there were no benches, the guardians and the students were forced to sit on the pavement affecting the smooth movement of the pedestrians and traffic.

NDITA officials including its chairman Debashis Sen met senior police officials and top brass of TCS and examination centre in charge and discussed the matter with them.

It was decided that steps should be taken for effective managing of the crowd at Gitobitan, modifying infrastructure to provide basic facilities for the visiting guardians and examinees and re-routing transport services.

It was found that trouble had cropped up as the guardians were not allowed within the premises and at the main entrance there was an elaborate procedure to identify examinees, prevent the carriage of prohibited devices, baggage screening/frisking.

NDITA has proposed to construct a public toilet and a tea shop on the opposite side of the gate of Gitobitan. There will a median cut to allow easy turning of vehicles and to convert one lane of the two-lane road into "pedestrians only" street on exam days.

TCS Gitobitan will make a holding area inside their premise along with benches, washrooms and drinking water kiosks by constructing a secondary wall to separate from the exam building so that at least one guardian per examinee can wait inside instead of blocking the street outside.