Coils of wires, crater-filled roads and wires sticking out of almost every other lamp post, some of which hang precariously over roads and broken pavements — the perils of living in Salt Lake are many.
Residents of the township and visitors risk their lives and limbs every single day while commuting or doing their routine chores.
The Telegraph drove and walked around Salt Lake on Monday and this is what we saw.
Crater-ridden roads and broken pathways: Driving through Salt Lake is nothing short of a nightmare. Walking is a close second in the adventure meter with many pavements either broken or simply taken over by hawkers.
The road in front of the Banchharam outlet in FC Block, which leads to the IA market in Salt Lake’ Sector III, is peppered with craters, most of which span the entire flank of the road.
This newspaper has reported on multiple occasions about the dismal roads in Salt Lake, where almost every artery is pothole ridden. The potholes have become bigger after a few spells of rain.
The craters near Bancharam’s are so deep that cars and even buses rock from side to side. This newspaper saw several cars and bikes brake to a dead stop before negotiating the potholes.
To add to the risks on the road, multiple streetlights are defunct and trident lights lean precariously and stick out into the carriageway.
A resident said: “Salt Lake has ceased to have a civic body. No one cares.”
Another stretch that has nearly no blacktop left is the one in front of the Bidhannagar Municipal School and the girls’ hostel of Lady Brabourne College in FE Block.
Wires everywhere: A variety of cables — broadband, internet cables and cable TV duds — hang from every possible street furniture and trees. They are not only an eyesore, but pose a serious threat to motorists as well as pedestrians.
Multiple dense coils of wires can be spotted on almost every lamppost, railing and even park benches in Salt Lake.
The city has witnessed fatal accidents involving cables, but the Salt Lake civic authorities choose to turn a blind eye to low-lying overhead cables as well as those wrapped around streetlights, which more often than not spill on the roads.
On Monday, The Telegraph spotted a black cable strung at chest height across the cut in the median divider near tank No. 8, opposite BH Block.
The cable snagged on a couple of cars that were trying to take a U-turn. A biker who was trying to do the same hit the brakes at the last minute.
“Fortunately the sun had not set yet. Else, it would have been impossible for me to spot the wire in darkness and I would have gone straight across. I shudder to think what could have happened as the cable is extremely low and at the height of my neck,” said Biswajit Saha, a delivery executive for a food app.
Open junction boxes: Electric cables jutting out of junction boxes at the base of lampposts is a common sight in Salt Lake.
On Monday, this newspaper spotted multiple suchopen junction boxes withexposed wires sticking out, along with fuses, in all three sectors.
The warning signs on a few of the lampposts are likely to be of little help if someone touches them, as exposed wires that stick out have turned them into death traps.
Last year, a 12-year-old boy died in Haridevpur, on the southern fringes of Kolkata, after grabbing a lamppost to regain his balance on a waterlogged street.
A few days later, a 13-year-old boy was electrocuted in Narkeldanga under similar circumstances.
However, the deaths have not had any long-standing effect. Wires continue to poke out of nearly every lamppost in Salt Lake. Last year, the civic body had wrapped a few of them using cellophane tapes, but this year nothing has been done.
Oh, the rain: Anita Mondal, deputy mayor of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation who is in charge of road repairs, said they have managed to carry out patchwork repairs in several blocks. Repairs will be undertaken in the other blocks, too.
“We are trying to do as much as we can. We also need dry weather for a few days so that road repairs can be done in full swing,” said Mondal.
An official in the civic body’s lights and parks department said they will undertake a drive to cover the junction boxes.
“We know some people open the boxes to steal electricity. We will look into the matter,” said the official.
Asked about the coils of broadband wires in Salt Lake, Sabyasachi Dutta, chairperson of the civic body, said that “something needs to be done right away”.