Dock East Boundary Road, which witnessed a fatal accident on Saturday, is not an exception.
Roads across Kolkata and Salt Lake are dotted with potholes big and small and have extensive stretches where the top layer has worn off, posing risk to lives and limbs of commuters.
Agencies responsible for the maintenance of the roads say they undertake repairs, but The Telegraph encountered a different picture while touring across the city and Salt Lake.
Several stretches of Diamond Harbour Road and EM Bypass are dotted with potholes. Same is the condition of Circular Garden Reach Road, Kidderpore Road, Karl Marx Sarani, Southern Avenue and Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Road.
Also in bad shape are stretches of EM Bypass — the Ruby crossing, a portion near the Avishikta crossing, the Ruby-bound flank of the artery below the under-construction Metro station at Ruby and the stretch below the under-construction Metro station at VIP Bazaar.
After a spell of heavy rain, multiple potholes remain submerged, making it difficult for motorists to spot them. Vehicles suddenly slow down after drivers spot potholes and swerve left or right, raising the risk of collision.
A senior official of the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), the custodian of the Bypass, said they would undertake repairs soon. “The repairs will be our priority,” said the official.
Diamond Harbour Road, another key road used by thousands of people from Behala and further south, has more than one broken stretch. The stretch between Diamond Harbour Road’s intersections with Burdwan Road and Mominpore has several potholes. A police officer said that though some patchwork repairs were undertaken recently, fresh potholes have appeared again.
A large crater filled with rainwater can be spotted in front of the gate of the Ordnance Depot near Mominpore. A stretch of Kidderpore Road, near a ramp of the AJC Bose Road flyover, has been lying battered. The state public works department is the custodian of these roads.
A senior official of the PWD said: “We are aware of the condition of the roads. Repairs will be undertaken soon.”
Three large potholes in quick succession were spotted on a stretch of Karl Marx Sarani in Kidderpore, near Fancy Market. Police recently sent a list of 120 roads, all riddled with craters, to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) for urgent repairs.
Avijit Mukherjee, mayoral council member in charge of roads, said: “We have already begun repairs. A dry spell of a few days would help,” he said.
