Hoardings, half broken and leaning; lampposts drooping under the weight of cables and trees leaning dangerously over roads — all with the potential to topple during storms and cause grievous injuries to commuters line Kolkata’s roads and pavements.
About 25 trees were uprooted or their branches broke during Monday’s nor’wester that clocked 84kmph. The Alipore Met office has predicted more storms till May 20.
A tour of the city on Monday suggested that Kolkatans were literally stepping out risking their limbs and lives because anytime a tree or a street pole or a hoarding can collapse on them.
The devastation caused by Monday’s storm had left its strongest marks on Camac Street and in front of the Victoria Memorial.
On Camac Street, two trees had broken from the middle, leaving only a part of the trunk standing. Dozens of cables that ran through the leaves and branches of the trees were snapped and at least one hoarding crashed as trees fell.
The footpath was still out of reach for pedestrians when The Telegraph visited the site around noon on Tuesday.
Cars were crushed under trees and their branches in front of Victoria.
Thunderstorms were reported from multiple districts on Tuesday as well. But in Kolkata, the conditions were limited to being breezy.
Till 7pm, there was no rain. Throughout the day, the sky turned cloudy and sunny in phases.
“Rain-bearing thunderclouds travelled from Jharkhand and adjoining regions till North 24-Parganas, via Bankura, Birbhum, Murshidabad and Nadia,” said a Met official.
The maximum temperature was around 34 degrees on Tuesday, a notch below normal. The minimum temperature was around 22.
A hoarding tilts dangerously on Syed Amir Ali Avenue on Tuesday; (right) tube lights hang dangerously from a hoarding at the crossing of Camac Street and Shakespeare Sarani on Tuesday
Syed Amir Ali Avenue, Camac Street and AJC Bose Road are among the several arterial roads in Kolkata where rickety hoardings stand on the footpaths. Tin plates from the hoardings have loosened and were fluttering in the winds on Tuesday.
A hoarding was leaning on the road opposite the Ice Skating Rink and Modern High School for Girls on Syed Amir Ali Avenue. Thousands of vehicles cross the stretch every day.
The southern footpath at the Camac Street-AJC Bose Road intersection has one hoarding, which has leant towards the road. The hoarding’s frame has started to break from near the middle.
At the Camac Street-Shakespeare Sarani crossing, several tube lights were hanging from a hoarding that was without any advertisement. Any of these lights could fall and injure a pedestrian walking under the hoarding.
Parts of the frames in the hoardings have rusted, weakening the structures.
Debashis Kumar, mayoral council member in charge of the parks and squares department of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), said periodic checks of the hoardings were done to ensure safety of commuters.
But the condition of the hoardings suggested they have escaped scrutiny for months. “I will look into it and take necessary measures,” said Kumar.
The KMC published a draft advertisement policy in mid-2022 but it has not been finalised yet. Mayor Firhad Hakim had said in March that he wanted more space between hoardings. Kolkata has multiple stretches dotted with hoardings with little space between them.
“I am not happy with the (draft) advertisement policy. I have suggested some changes. If you travel through Kolkata, you will see there are hoardings one after another and very close to each other,” said Hakim.
“If there are so many hoardings so close to each other, people in a moving car do not get to see what’s on them.”
The draft policy had said two hoardings should be at least 8.2ft apart.
Besides hoardings, lampposts have turned into possible threats as they have bent in many places under the weight of cables.
Thousands of lampposts burdened with cables tied to and wrapped around them had toppled in the city during Cyclone Amphan in May 2020. Civic officials had then said the weight of the cables contributed to their fall.
Three years later, cables are still tied to and around many lampposts.
Leaving little soil around the base of trees is still rampant on Kolkata’s pavements. They weaken the tree and help in their fall during storms, said environmentalists. Improper trimming, rampant in Kolkata, also lead to the toppling of trees.