A woman asked Calcutta’s mayor on Friday afternoon why the city’s roads were bearable during the Puja and miserable for most of the year.

“If the state can build good roads in Purulia or Jhargram, why can’t the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) do the same in Calcutta?” she asked.

Mayor Firhad Hakim’s had some answers to give to fellow Calcuttans during his road inspection ahead of Durga Puja.

“A woman said that Calcutta’s roads are always good during the Puja but not for the rest of the year. I told her that we receive such voluminous rain that the roads break,” he said.

Earlier in the day, Hakim visited pockets of Joka, Behala and Garia where the KMC has built underground drainage lines.

In the evening, Hakim set off for a second round of inspection from the Metropolitan crossing on EM Bypass, to roads like CIT Road, Central Avenue, Park Street, Gariahat Road, Golpark and Hazra.