Kolkata: Salt Lake residents can hope for a smoother commute soon with the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation finally taking up thorough repair of roads, which have been lying battered and potholed for months now.
Before the book fair started off, the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) had carried out patchwork repairs of some of the roads around the Central Park fairground but other stretches were left out.
BMC started the comprehensive repairs with a 50-metre stretch on First Avenue near Baisakhi Island that had been so cratered that many motorists had started avoiding it if they could. The civic body has now repaired it with a fresh layer of bitumen. The roads in front of CGO Complex and near Anindita bus stop at Tank No. 13 have also been repaired.
"We have received an approval of Rs 25 crore from the state govt. Agencies are being engaged for full-fledged road repairs in different parts of Salt Lake that will be carried out in phases," said a senior BMC official.
Residents complained that they had not witnessed such pathetic condition of roads in many years and that the BMC's quality of work had been so poor that the fresh bituminous layers wore off in no time. A few weeks ago, Association of Bidhannagar Citizens, a new people's forum, submitted a memorandum to the BMC mayor, stating that 60%-70% roads in Salt Lake, especially the lanes inside the blocks, were in terrible condition, leading to not only commute problems but also giving rise to dust pollution.
Several roads across Salt Lake were earlier identified and listed for KMDA to carry out repairs. These include the stretch from PNB Island to the canal side road, both flanks of the road connecting Tank No. 4 with the canal side road in Sector I, J K Saha to Karunamoyee, the stretch around Islands 8 and 9, the stretch from the Kathgola Island to the canal side road, Tank No. 10 to EE Block Island, Sluice Gate to Bidhannagar East police station in Sector II, both flanks from Stadium Gate No. 1 to Amul Island, Anindita Stop to Labony Island, in front of NIFT, the Beliaghata service road and several other stretches in Sector III. KMDA has so far worked on some of the stretches, while the rest are set to get a facelift now.