Stretches of pavements across Calcutta have remained broken and battered for weeks without repair, once again highlighting how the city has turned hostile to
pedestrians.
Park Street, Lenin Sarani and Central Avenue — all major thoroughfares with heavy pedestrian movement — have walkways in deplorable condition.
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is restoring a water supply line beneath Park Street’s footpath, yet the pavement remains open in several stretches, with no fencing to protect pedestrians.
When Metro visited Park Street on Sunday, stretches of pavement dug up and left unfenced were seen outside Murshidabad House and extending up to the Park Street police station.
Pedestrians were walking along a narrow strip of the pavement that also had mounds of soil.
St Xavier’s College is across the road, and hundreds of students use the footpath every day. Besides, there are many offices, restaurants and pubs along Park Street.
A Salt Lake resident who walked along the pavement in the last week of February said it was in a similar state even then.
“Some of my friends were walking in the evening. The stretch was poorly lit, and there was no way to understand that it was dug open
till one went very close,” she said.
At the intersection of Lenin Sarani and Madan Street, the pavement has been left without restoration for more than a week.
“The paver blocks have been removed, leaving only an underlying layer of sand. This stretch has been in that state for over a week. It is impossible to walk on sand,” said a man who works in an office in the neighbourhood.
To make matters worse, heaps of sand have been dumped on the road, occupying more than half of it and creating more difficulties for pedestrians who were forced to get down on the road.
At Chandni Chowk, the pavement near one of the Metro rail exit gates and in front of a popular restaurant has been in a broken state for weeks.
A layer of concrete was cast about a week ago, but the restoration has not been completed yet. Paver blocks are still missing.
A 150-metre stretch of the pavement along the Esplanade-bound flank of Central Avenue, outside Girish Park Metro railway station, is in a battered condition. The pavement is uneven. The paver blocks, which form the walking surface, have been uprooted and lie strewn across the pavement.
Most pedestrians avoid the stretch. The few who
take it have to struggle to cross it safely.
“We will take remedial actions immediately. I will enquire why the pavements are in such bad shape. The restoration work will be taken up soon,” a senior KMC official said on Sunday.