• Rain washes away ‘presidential repairs’
    Times of India | 1 August 2025
  • Kolkata: Rain washed away "presidential repairs" on VIP Road and the stretch between Haldiram's and the airport — hastily patched up with paver blocks and bricks — returned to its cratered state on Thursday morning. This led to waterlogging and a bumpy ride for the President's convoy on the way to the airport. President Droupadi Murmu left Kolkata at 10.30 am on Thursday after a brief official visit.

    According to Bidhannagar cops, the airport-bound flank of VIP Road received expedited repairs just days earlier. "The holes were filled, the craters vanished under a patch of broken bricks and paver blocks. The rain, however, had other plans. By Thursday morning, it was like the repairs never happened," an officer said.

    While the police ensured a congestion-free corridor for the President, the convoy reportedly had to slow down significantly between Haldiram's and the 45 bus stand signal due to crater-ridden, waterlogged stretches. "The road posed enough of an obstacle course," the officer added.

    Along Kolkata's key airport routes — VIP Road, Jessore Road, and Belgharia Expressway — continuous rain over the past few weeks has disrupted repairs, with poor surface stability becoming a theme in civic complaints and newspaper columns. PWD started repairs on a 180m stretch between AAI Gate and Kaikhali Haj House on July 11. "It was to take three days. Three weeks later, it's still a work in progress — thanks to the rain," the officer said.
  • Link to this news (Times of India)