The death of 12-year-old Anmol Jha in a road accident on Kolkata’s Majerhat stretch has renewed concern over the safety of schoolchildren travelling through the truck-heavy corridor linking Behala, Taratala and the port areas. The accident has brought attention back to pedestrian risks on roads where daily school commutes overlap with industrial and commercial traffic.
The affected network includes Diamond Harbour Road, Budge Budge Trunk Road, Garangacha Road and the Majerhat stretch. According to the report, the Behala-Taratala belt has recorded fatal and serious accidents involving students over the past decade, from 2016 to 2026. Residents and urban planners have repeatedly flagged the conflict between port-bound heavy vehicles and children walking or cycling to schools and tuition classes.
The corridor serves as a major route for industrial and port traffic. Students and other pedestrians use the same narrow and congested carriageways as heavy goods vehicles, cranes and buses. The report said that prolonged Metro rail construction, potholes, road craters, a lack of bus bays and missing zebra crossings have added to the risks faced by pedestrians and cyclists.
The latest accident occurred on the adjoining Majerhat stretch, where the safety measures introduced at Behala Chowrasta do not cover every feeder road and arterial section in the wider corridor. The incident has therefore renewed questions about whether safety improvements at one major crossing can protect commuters across a connected network carrying similar traffic.
A previous fatal accident at Behala Chowrasta in August 2023 led Kolkata Police and the Public Works Department to launch a Rs 3-crore model crossing project. The accident killed eight-year-old Souranil Sarkar while he was crossing the road with his father. The project introduced pedestrian channels, refuge islands, drop gates and artificial-intelligence-driven traffic signals.
Behala Chowrasta has since maintained a planned crossing, while police have also introduced signals at smaller crossings on Diamond Harbour Road, according to the report. However, the Majerhat accident has highlighted the continuing safety gaps on adjoining roads and feeder routes, where pedestrians remain exposed to heavy traffic.
The report did not provide details of any new enforcement measure or infrastructure intervention announced after the latest accident. The immediate public-safety concern remains the movement of schoolchildren and other pedestrians through a corridor where port traffic, buses, construction-related disruption and inadequate crossing infrastructure converge.
