The state public works department (PWD) has identified 552 roads across Bengal where urgent repairs are needed, a senior official told Metro on Thursday.
The department has received over 1,100 complaints from residents about poor road conditions since the onset of the monsoon.
The potholes have affected commuting on 2,400km of roads. “We are aware of the poor condition of many roads. We have already identified more than 550 roads across the state where pothole repairs are needed,” said an official.
The bad roads include Calcutta’s BT Road, VIP Road and Cathedral Road on Maidan.
“We are using an AI-based tool that is analysing the depth, width, and length of the potholes. Our men are driving through the broken stretch in a two-wheeler or a car at a moderate speed with a camera fitted on the vehicle. The camera is recording the condition of the road while the AI-based tool is analysing its dimensions,” the PWD official said.
A Calcuttan who recently drove between East Burdwan and Santiniketan in Birbhum, via Ketugram and Kirnahar, said stretches of the road were in perilous condition. The road between Katwa and Burdwan town is also in an equally bad shape, said a woman.
“In some stretches, the car had to slow down after every 300 or 400 metres because of the potholes. Besides potholes, the top layer had worn off in many stretches and exposed the underlying aggregates. As buses or cars went over the stretch, they kicked up a cloud of dust in the air,” said the Calcuttan.
There were portions along the roads where the underlying bed had been exposed and depressions had formed on the surface.
The two roads, like many in the state, do not have a median divider. There are places where vehicles dangerously switch flanks to avoid potholes.
A resident of Bonhooghly in north Calcutta told Metro that large and small potholes had developed on BT Road, between Sinthee crossing and the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI). Repairs over the past month have reduced them, but there are still many more left on the stretch, she said.
“This stretch is also heavily waterlogged after spells of intense rain,” said the Bonhooghly resident.
PWD engineers said the waterlogging loosens the bonding of the top layer of the road and disintegrates its components, leading to cracks and the formation of potholes.
PWD officials said the department had set a 48-hour deadline to repair the potholes for which complaints are pouring in from residents.
“Common people can lodge complaints about bad roads on the number 9088822111. This is a chatbot where they will be guided on how to file a complaint,” said an official.
Sources said thorough repairs on some of the roads might start after the monsoon, “if funds were available”.