Here's why you may have to crawl on VIP Road before flying out of Kolkata
Times of India | 5 August 2024
A crater on VIP Road KOLKATA: Motorists using VIP Road must brace for a tough time as more craters and potholes have popped up along the corridor next to the airport after two days of relentless rain. The stretch had been inundated on Friday and Saturday.
Cops and PWD officials blamed the waterlogging and the poor condition of the road on railway PSU Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd (RVNL), implementing agency of the New Garia-Airport Metro or Orange Line, the last leg of which is currently being built along VIP Road.But the railway officials said they are trying their best to remove accumulated water.
"Though we tried hard on Friday and Saturday, the excessive downpour made things worse. The sewer lines on VIP Road choked easily because they are desilted superficially. Even the runway was flooded. Both PWD and the airport authorities were channelling the sto-rm water through the already choked drainage system at Kaikhali," a Railways official said.
When RVNL failed with normal pumps, because the water was flowing back, they had to resort to using tankers.
TOI has been reporting on the shoddy state of VIP Road since Friday. Having driven through the stretch again on Sunday, TOI found stretches being cordoned off with traffic cones to prevent cars and bikes from hitting the craters. "VIP Road has never been this bad. The craters and the muddy roads are slowing down traffic. We managed to keep traffic moving on Sunday but if the stretch is not repaired soon, it will be a challenge to manage traffic from Monday," said a Bidhannagar cop.
Following Friday's TOI report, PWD undertook patchwork on some stretches by filling up the craters with paver blocks. But on Sunday, the roads around the paver blocks were found to be disintegrating. Vehicles were swaying while negotiating the potholes. "The waterlogging has worsened things. Last year, a new drainage pumping station near City Centre II had kept VIP Road dry, immediately draining storm water. But this year, RVNL has tweaked the underground drainage channels to facilitate metro work," an officer said. To this, a Railways official said, "Last year, we didn't face this kind of monsoon."