The Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) will start repairing battered roads in 14 of its 41 wards from March 3

Bidhannagar MLA Sujit Bose said the work “will be completed in a month or a maximum of 10 more days”. The wards — 28 to 41 — where the repairs will start are part of Salt Lake. The areas fall under Bose’s Assembly constituency.

Bose and Bidhannagar’s mayor Krishna Chakraborty, jointly announced the road repair plan.

Officials in the municipal corporation said they were expecting the funds for the remaining wards to arrive in the new financial year that starts in April.

“We have received ₹25 crore from the urban development department. The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority will also spend ₹9.5 crore for the repairs, out of which ₹4.5 crore has already been released,” Bose told a news conference at the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation’s headquarters on Friday.

“The work will start on March 3. All the repairs will be completed within a month, or maximum of 10 more days,” Bose said.

Bose promised “thorough repairs”.

While the KMDA will undertake repairs of the arterial roads like the one between the Karunamoyee crossing and the JK Saha bridge, the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation will repair the roads inside the blocks.

An official of the corporation said about 22km of roads will be repaired.

Mayor Chakraborty, seated beside Bose, said the contractors who have won bids for the repairs have to repair the roads on their own in case they break within 5 years.

“There is a warranty period of 5 years. We did not include this clause during the earlier road repairs, but now the contractors will be responsible if the roads crack before 5 years. They have to repair the roads again in such a scenario,” Chakraborty said.

“We are answerable to the government that disburses money for road repairs. If the roads start cracking within months of repairs, it raises questions about the quality of work. I, Bose and others at the corporation have to answer to the government,” Chakraborty said.

Metro has reported several times how the broken and battered roads in
Salt Lake made travelling through the township a miserable experience for its residents and visitors. Once a showpiece township with well-laid roads, residents said Salt Lake roads have gone from bad to worse over the past few years.

“My father suffered a fracture in one of his legs last month. Doctors have asked him to walk slowly. The roads in our block are so bad that he cannot risk walking outside, fearing he will fall and sustain more injuries. It pains him even while travelling in a car because the car shakes so much because of potholes and cracks,” said a resident of
CE Block.

“Last week, there was a meeting between residents and our councillor. Everyone in that meeting complained about the state of roads and demanded immediate repairs,” said the woman.

She said the roads in the AE block were also in terrible condition.

An official of the civic body said the 14 wards where the repairs will begin on
Monday were all within Salt Lake and its added areas like Duttabad.

The repairs in the remaining 27 wards, which are not part of Salt Lake but within the BMC’s ambit, will be taken up soon.