The roads and lanes of Salt Lake and adjoining areas like Kestopur, Baguiati and parts of Rajarhat that are dotted with potholes will be repaired by the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) before Durga Puja, a corporation official said.
According to the official, coordinators of all 41 wards have been asked to conduct a survey in their wards and submit reports by next week.
The civic body, however, will carry out patchwork repairs — a layer of bitumen will be laid over craters — as a quick-fix solution, the official said.
Krishna Chakraborty, the chairperson of the board of administrators of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, said she had allotted Rs 10 lakh per ward for the repairs.
“We will release the funds once coordinators submit the reports. We want to start the repairs on war footing and want to ensure that pandal-hoppers have a smooth ride during the Puja. We plan to finish the repairs before Sashthi,” said Chakraborty.
According to her, the agencies engaged in road repair will be asked to explain why the roads are in such a sorry state. “The agencies that laid the roads and are tasked with the upkeep will be asked to explain why they have not carried out repairs. We will give them a deadline for the repairs. If they fail, we will take action against them,” said Chakraborty.
Metro has been reporting about the bad state of roads in Salt Lake and its adjoining areas regularly.
A 30-metre stretch of Broadway, which connects EM Bypass to Salt Lake, is filled with craters, because of which vehicles headed to EM Bypass from Salt Lake as well as those moving towards Sector V are taking more than 30 minutes to cross the stretch during rush hours. In normal circumstances it should not take more than 10 minutes.
Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) had taken up a Rs 30-crore project a couple of years back, as part of which roads were repaired at several places.
However, most roads in Salt Lake and several lanes and bylanes inside blocks of all three sectors of the township are riddled with craters, which often lead to accidents.
Of the worst affected stretches is a section of Second Avenue, which leads from Purta Bhavan to the tank number 9 petrol pump.
On Broadway, a stretch has subsided near the Salt Lake stadium, adjacent to the Amul island.
The roads of Rajarhat and Kestopur are in a much worse shape. Cars and motorcycles were spotting zig-zagging to avoid craters without much success.
