The state of roads in Salt Lake continues to worsen with new potholes propping up nearly every single day, alleged residents.
On Sunday The Telegraph spotted a large crater on Broadway — the artery connects the township with EM Bypass — in front of the Bijan Bhavan island.
The entire surface of the road near the crater, which is around four feet wide and around five feet long, has given way.
The entry to Salt Lake from EM Bypass and the SAI Complex crossing has now started resembling an off-road track.
Multiple large craters and potholes reduce the speed of vehicles headed into the township to a crawl. Cars and bikes are rocked violently as the potholes not only span the entire width of the Salt Lake-bound flank of Broadway here but the road itself has subsidences in several places.
Other places in the township are no better. Vehicles headed towards tank number 9 near Karunamoyee from Sech Bhavan have to negotiate potholes on the road opposite the Udayachal tourist lodge.
Both flanks of the road leading to Banchharam’s Sector III outlet from tank number 13 in IA Block near Salt Lake stadium are in shambles.
Repairs haven’t started yet. The civic officials said that they have mapped out the worst of the places and repairs will start with them.
However, only patchwork repairs, a cost and time-saving method where the entire road is not relaid and only potholes and craters filled with puddles of asphalt mix will be carried out.
“We will carry out pre-Puja repairs. However, we will only be able to repair the stretches of roads that are broken and lead to Durga Puja pandals,” said a senior official of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation’s road repairs department.
The civic body has not carried out extensive repairs or relaid any of the roads fully in more than eight years now.
Anita Mondal, the deputy mayor of the Salt Lake civic body who is in charge of road repairs, cited funds and lack of time for conducting only patchwork repairs.
“We have got only Rs 10 lakh per ward for road repairs. This is not enough and neither do we have time to do anything apart from patchwork repairs now that the Pujas are here. We will require a number of consecutive dry days to do so,” said Mondal.
An engineer of the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) engineer said a road surface laid with mastic asphalt or concrete easily outlasts a surface redone with bitumen. Mastic asphalt could be laid in a short span of time and even in between rains.