Battered roads in Salt Lake have taken a turn for the worse with the city receiving spells of rain over the past few days.
Giant craters have formed in all three sectors of the township.
On Wednesday, The Telegraph drove around Salt Lake and found that almost every major road and the streets in the blocks are in a bad shape.
Residents and regular commuters said the potholes had formed much before and the fresh spells of rain have made them wider and deeper.
A vast stretch of First Avenue, which leads to the tank number 5 bus stand from Baisakhi, is riddled with craters. In some sections, the surface has worn off, exposing the bricks beneath.
Such is the condition that cars and two-wheelers struggle to negotiate the stretch.
The situation is similar on the road that leads to the Purta Bhavan island crossing from Udaychal tourist lodge. Multiple large craters have formed on the stretch in front of Bidhannagar North police station.
The worst stretch is in front of the Salt Lake stadium’s gate number 1, near Purbachal housing complex. There are at least a dozen craters that are not only wide but extremely deep.
The road is one of the busiest in the township as it leads to Salt Lake from the Hyatt intersection on EM Bypass.
Subhadeep Chakraborty, a resident of IA Block, said vehicles that ply regularly on the stretch suffer damage. Accidents, too, take place.
“On Monday, two bikers lost control after their front wheels fell into a deep crater and the vehicles skidded almost simultaneously. Fortunately, both were wearing helmets. So they did not suffer any head injuries,” said Chakraborty.
Several residents of the township this newspaper spoke to said the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation had not done any basic repair work. No major repair work had been carried out in the past couple of years.
Anita Mondal, deputy mayor of civic body who is also mayoral council member in charge of roads, said they could not start road repairs because of paucity of funds.
“We still have not got funds from the state government, so we are not able to start repairs. We will carry out repairs as soon as we get the funds,” Mondal said.
The corporation relies heavily on government doles and aid to run its day-to-day operations, a senior official of the civic body said.
