Roads dotted with craters near Fandi Sqaure and New Market in Balasore. Telegraph pictures

Balasore, Aug. 29: Bad roads and other civic deficiencies are giving residents of this coastal town a hard time.

Potholes and rubble are a common feature on almost all the roads, but what aggravate the situation are craters, which when filled with rainwater, are invisible to motorists.

“The administration has become indifferent towards basic civic deficiencies. The roads within the limits of the Balasore Municipality have become so poor, that they have apparently become death traps for motorists, especially bikers,” said advocate Parsuram Pradhan.

“In the name of repairs, the authorities are doing only patch work, which has led to this situation,” he said.

Residents complain that almost a third of all roads in Balasore town require repairs. “You won’t find a stretch of more than 500 metres in good condition,” said local resident Dipak Ranjan Das.

In the worst condition are the roads connecting the flyover bridge, FM Circle, ITI Square, Fandi Square, the FM College road and Bhaskarganj, Gopalgaon. Indira Gandhi Marg, which stretches over 2.7km and connects ITI Square with Hemkapada, has been in a miserable state for years for want of renovation.

This stretch has many potholes, most of which resemble ponds when filled with rainwater. What’s worse is that students of several government and private schools, including Montessori schools and a Kendriya Vidyalaya, have to take this road to get to their institutes.

Gurdians have often complained about the poor road conditions to the district administration. “We find no solution when parents complain to us and hear about accidents due to the bad condition of the road,” said Nagendra Pradhan, a teacher at Kendriya Vidyalaya, Balasore.

Deputy collector Binay Mohanty said: “The road has been handed over to the works department. Its renovation is in progress for Rs 3.5 crore.”

The total length of roads in the town is around 487km, but 306km of this is blacktop. The concrete road length in the town is about 88km. The municipality spends nearly Rs 8 crore each year for repair and maintenance of roads.

Executive officer of the civic body Prafulla Chandra Mishra said: “Before converting them to concrete, we need to have a drainage system. A huge amount of money is required for the makeover. However, for repair and renovation of some major roads before Durga Puja, we have sent an estimate of about Rs 7 crore to the urban development department. We are yet to receive the funds.”