KMC waits for 7-day dry spell to run hot-mix plants, finish repairs
Times of India | 16 July 2025
Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is hoping for at least seven days of dry spell to ensure that road repair work could be completed across the city. The civic body used the brief dry spells since Tuesday night to carry out repair work on two key central Kolkata stretches – Lenin Sarani and SN Banerjee Road.
The production at KMC roads department run hot-mix plants at Goragacha (near Taratala) and Palmer Bazar was also hampered due to continuous rain. Hot-mix is a material that is required for road repair works. "The production capacity of these two plants have been augmented. We have no dearth of hot-mix materials to conduct road repair for the entire city. But continuous rain has made it difficult for us to keep these plants open. Once we get dry spells, we won't waste time in keeping them running for six days a week," said a KMC roads department senior official.
Mayor Firhad Hakim on Tuesday said they calculated that the repair job on important stretches of Kolkata would not take more than 72 hours. "The roads are not as bad as it is being made out. The roads were damaged only due to the incessant rain, an essential fallout of the monsoon. We are aware of the job at hand and have planned accordingly," he said.
The police also collaborated with KMC and PWD to create partial blockades and complete patchwork on DH Road (near IIM Joka) and EM Bypass (near Metropolitan Crossing). Sources said the road repair teams in each borough were practically sitting idle the past week with hardly any dry spell. "Everything is ready for an extensive repair job, but all we want is the skies to hold up," said a KMC source.
For the traffic police, the focus remained on the Mominpore stretch, where cops had to introduce fouling — both from Majerhat on one side and Mayurbhanj on the other — through most of the day to counter the crater-filled DH Road. Fouling is allowing vehicles from the opposite flank to use one flank.
The decision, claimed Lalbazar, was taken to ensure that the massive flow of traffic from Behala towards central Kolkata was not hindered due to the DH Road condition between Remount Road and Mayurbhanj. The area was witnessing traffic congestions, especially in the evenings, even as discussions for further corrective measures were ongoing between police, KMC, and Rail Vikas Nigam Limited.
The KMC claims came on the same day that school children blocked the Biren Roy Road (West) and held a rally demanding immediate restoration of the road surface. "This is nothing but a death trap. I feel afraid to even cycle down to school from home," said Ishita Jana, a class 9 student of a govt school located near Oxy Town.