Over 1,000 villagers in East Midnapore’s Deshapran block on Tuesday morning blocked a part of a 5km-long metal road to protest the delay in repairing the stretch lying damaged for the last two years.

The road is used by over one lakh residents to commute to and from Contai town and hospital.

The protest started at 9am at Raghunathpur village, where the potholes are so deep that the stretch has become prone to “severe flooding” during monsoon. Many villagers planted paddy on the potholed road to highlight the level of flooding.

“This road is the only link we have to the town and to Contai subdivisional hospital. The state of this stretch of the road is such that neither can a person walk through it nor can an autorickshaw cross it,” said a protester, pointing to 2-feet-deep craters at several places where the metal base of the road had eroded and filled with rainwater.

“Monsoon has rendered the 5km-long road absolutely unusable. It was badly battered during Amphan this May, and the road was damaged over the last two years, but neither panchayat officials nor the PWD acted despite repeated appeals,” said another protester.

Madhusudhan Chakraborty, 40, a farmer who was part of the demonstration, added: “It takes over an hour to travel on this 5km stretch.”

As villagers’ anger mounted, Chalti panchayat pradhan Tapan Samanta and panchayat member Joynal Ali who came to listen to the grievances of villagers were gheraoed for over two hours.

They were released only after panchayat samiti deputy chief Tarun Jena came to the protest site and promised “immediate action”.

“We lifted the protest following Jena’s assurance but we have told officials that villagers will lock up the panchayat office if no action is taken within a week,” said Kader Khan, an auto driver.

Block officials later said on Tuesday that the road, which bifurcates into two during the last kilometre of the 5km stretch, was handed over by block officials to the PWD officials last year. One of the routes, connected to Contai subdivisional hospital, is maintained by municipality authorities and was in good shape.

“The other route, leading to Bhabani More, was supposed to be widened by PWD last year. We will send them a reminder post haste,” said Jena, adding that he would personally alert the PWD executive engineer.

Sowing paddy on bad roads has become an effective way for residents to highlight potholes, especially during monsoon. Earlier this month, residents of Jalpaiguri town’s ward 2, Bhatakhana, sowed paddy on a road as a mark of protest against its bad shape.

Last month, Birbhum villagers had done the same to protest a bad road that they alleged prevented ambulances from reaching villages on time.