Police in Purulia’s Balarampur have taken it on themselves to fill up potholes and carry out patchwork repairs on a 22km stretch of NH18 after repeated requests to the National Highways Authority of India allegedly went unheeded.

The police said they had been facing the wrath of the public because of frequent accidents on the stretch, especially during monsoon when motorcyclists and car drivers find it difficult to spot craters as they are filled with water.

The police took the help of local construction material suppliers during the repairs on Wednesday and Thursday. Civic police volunteers and constables joined labourers in the work.

The police have filled up over a dozen craters with stones and mud.

“We had requested some construction material suppliers to give us stones, mud and a road roller free of cost to fill up the potholes, which are causing accidents. We had no option but to seek their help as we do not have funds to repair roads,” said a police officer in Purulia.

The police said the initiative was taken after repeated requests to the NHAI to repair the road went unheeded. “We had repeatedly urged the NHAI to repair the crater-dotted stretch of the highway as it was causing accidents. We are facing the wrath of the people after accidents,” said a police officer in Balarampur.

The police said at least five road accidents caused by the potholes had been reported and a motorcyclist had died in the past one month. Policemen were gheraoed by angry locals after some of the accidents.

Sources in the NHAI said they had taken up a Rs 700-crore project to widen the two-lane highway into a six-lane one, during which two bypass roads would be constructed skirting Purulia and Balarampur towns.

“The work was supposed to start by December last year but was delayed because of land acquisition-related issues. Now we have got the land and the work will begin after the monsoon,” said an NHAI official.

Arindam Handik, the project director of the NHAI in Durgapur, said they would repair the potholes in Balarampur soon. “We have already completed the tender process and work will begin soon,” Handik said.