A 250m stretch of the Seventh Cross Road — an arterial road in Salt Lake that connects the Karunamoyee bus stand to island number 8 bus stop and 206 bus stand — has been dug up and inaccessible to vehicles for more than five months.
The stretch had been dug up to facilitate the laying of an underground cable network. The cables have long been laid but the dug-up stretch is yet to be repaired and opened to traffic.
The spot where the cables were laid is on the flank of the Seventh Cross Road through which vehicles move through island number 8.
Barring a few traffic guardrails placed at the dug-up spot, there is no signage warning motorists that the road is closed and they are supposed to drive down the other flank of the road.
Those driving towards tank 9 and subsequently to the Karunamoyee intersection from island 8 also get confused as they suddenly find vehicles headed in the opposite direction in their lane.
The problem gets compounded at night as the affected section is not visible too clearly and people tend to brake very late.
This puts motorists as well as pedestrians walking down the stretch or waiting to cross the road at risk of injury. People who frequently travel through the road said accidents are common on the stretch.
Several buses use this road to reach the Karunamoyee intersection —one of the busiest crossings in Salt Lake. The buses now have to take sharp turns, often unsettling other motorists, in order to get on to the other flank of the road.
The Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) is in charge of maintaining roads in Salt Lake.
Asked why the civic body has not been able to repair the affected stretch that is merely 250m long, an official in the BMC’s road repairs department said: “We have put sand over the dug-up site and are allowing it time to settle before laying a layer of asphalt to prevent subsidence. Once the base layer of sand completely settles in, we will start laying the blacktop. But for that we need a few days devoid of rain.”
Saikat Chakraborty, a resident of CL Block, which is close to the dug-up section, said the municipal corporation could have at least conducted patchwork repairs and opened the road for vehicles.
“Let alone repairing the stretch, the civic body has not even put up adequate warning signs. One can’t cross the area on foot as it is extremely uneven. A pedestrian can falland get injured,” said Chakraborty.