A crucial road in Kidderpore that connects port with Karl Marx Sarani has been lying in a deplorable state for over a month with giant craters and waterlogging making it almost impossible to commute on the stretch.

Local residents blocked the Satya Doctor Road on Saturday morning demanding immediate action, following which the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) started repairs by the evening.

A local resident said that every day large trucks topple after falling into a crater. She alleged that the road gets waterlogged after every spell of rain and it takes at least two days for the water to recede.

“Water enters households and doesn’t recede before two days. Waterlogging problem on this road has been there for many years. The poor condition of the road has made matters worse,” said Shreyoshi Ghosh, a student of St. Xavier’s College and a resident of Satya Doctor Road.

Shreyoshi said that early on Saturday a truck loaded with sugar toppled on the footpath near her house.

“A neighbour of mine said cracks had developed in their house because trucks often topple in front of the building. The local people were forced to block the road,” she said.

Senior engineers and officials of the CMC arrived at the scene and decided to start repairs immediately.

“We have already started work. We have got a 15-day period to do the repairs,” said a senior CMC official.

Police officers said that the road connects Karl Marx Sarani and Garden Reach Road, and most vehicles headed towards south Calcutta from port and vice-versa use the road. “If it is not in proper shape, traffic gets very slow and long snarls form in the area,” said a police officer.

Engineers of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation said that the waterlogging on the road had been exacerbated by the partial blockade of a canal under the Majerhat bridge through which water from Kidderpore drains out.

“A pier of the under construction bridge is coming up from the canal because of which only a 3ft-diameter pipe has been kept there to drain out the water,” said an engineer.

The canal is about 12-ft wide and the reduced rainwater outlet is triggering waterlogging on Satya Doctor Road and across Kidderpore, the engineer said. CMC sources said waterlogging was causing the bituminous surface to wear out fast, while plying of heavy trucks created the craters.