Belghoria: The National Highways Authority of India is set to hand over the responsibility of maintaining Belghoria Expressway to the Bengal government by October, a move that many fear could further worsen the condition of the cratered artery.

The Centre has issued a gazette notification mentioning that the expressway was being "de-entrusted" to the Bengal government.

The expressway connects Dakshineswar in the west to Jessore Road in the east and provides people living on the northern fringe of the city with an easy link to the airport and New Town. The airport-bound flank is now marked with huge caters.

Officials said NHAI was not keen on maintaining a road that is mostly used by local commuters, especially one that is unlikely to be expanded in near future and where it could not levy cess.

The national agency took over the upkeep of the road in mid-2008, a year after it was opened to traffic, following requests from the state government to the ministry of road transport and highways.

The agency has been maintaining the expressway with central funds since.

"Over time we have realised that there is no scope for expansion of the expressway from four to six lanes. No other projects, such as building service roads, are lined up for the expressway. Also, the government has no plan to let us collect toll from the users of the expressway.... There is no reason for NHAI to hold on to the expressway any more," an official of the agency said.

The ministry had in 2016 informed the Bengal government that it was not keen on maintaining the expressway. It also mentioned that the agency only "operates and maintains" toll roads. A part of the money earned as toll is spent on maintaining the road.

Once NHAI takes its hands off Belghoria Expressway, maintenance of the road will be the PWD's responsibility. The state government had made it clear to the Centre that it would only accept responsibility of the road's upkeep if NHAI repaired it thoroughly.

"We have drawn up an estimate of around Rs 18 crore for the repairs. The ministry has accepted our estimate. We have been told that the funds have been released," an engineer in the PWD's highways division said.

"We doubt the PWD will maintain the expressway properly," said Rajiv Saha, a resident of Prafulla Nagar and software developer at a Sector V firm.

"Initially, when the PWD was responsible for the road, there were not enough lights."