Some roads in Salt Lake have got patchwork repairs over the last few weeks while several others are still battered and dotted with potholes.
The Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation has started repairs.
Some main roads, including a stretch of Third Avenue that leads from the Wipro intersection in Sector V to Karunamoyee, have got patchwork repairs. Several other main roads, including First and Second Avenue, are cratered.
On Tuesday, The Telegraph drove through the township and found battered roads in all three sectors of the township.
The road that leads from the Sports Authority of India (SAI) complex, near the Salt Lake stadium, to the Eastern drainage canalside road is peppered with craters on both flanks. The state is such that sand and brickwork of the roadbed have become exposed.
In some places, the road has turned dangerous with jagged edges of bricks sticking out. This, coupled with dust and sand spread across the road, has turned the surface slippery and vehicles tend to skid once brakes are applied.
The road that leads to the Baisakhi foot overbridge, used by commuters to cross over to the Kestopur bus stop near VIP Road, has started resembling an off-road track.
This newspaper has reported several times about the bad state of Salt Lake’s road network that once used to have smooth wide roads where driving used to be a pleasure.
Several residents said they have to plan routes in advance so they can avoid the worst stretches of broken roads in the township.
A senior engineer of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation’s road repairs department said they were banking on patchwork repairs to level out the craters and potholes.
“We have only been asked to carry out patchwork repairs. Although these offer temporary relief, the need of the hour is to completely resurface the broken road network in the township,” said the engineer.
Kumar Shankar Sadhu, former secretary of Bidhannagar Welfare Association and a member of the GD Block residents’ committee, said a proper overhaul of the roads in Salt Lake was needed.
“The roads in the township have not been properly resurfaced in over seven years now. Every time the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation has been harping on patchwork repairs that not only turn a road bumpy but also tend to last for a few weeks,” he said.
Engineers from the Salt Lake civic body and the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA), which provides civic services to neighbouring New Town, said patchwork repair is a process where bitumen mix is poured over potholes and then levelled off with a roller before being allowed to dry.
This technique is cheaper and less time-consuming but is not a permanent solution, an NKDA engineer said.
Krishna Chakraborty, mayor of the Salt Lake civic body, said they had started repairing the roads based on inputs sent by the councillors.
“We have started road repairs and will repair nearly all major roads in Salt Lake. In the first phase, we are focusing on the worst-hit stretches. We have started with Salt Lake. Repairs are also on across Kestopur, Baguiati and parts of Rajarhat. We will carry out thorough resurfacing of the roads once we get more funds,” Chakraborty told The Telegraph on Tuesday.