Several roads across the city are riddled with numerous small potholes, making driving difficult and hazardous.

The jerking movements, often very tough to control, can suddenly drag a car or a two-wheeler to the right or left. Car drivers and two-wheeler riders said controlling the direction of the vehicles on such stretches becomes challenging.

The government authorities in charge of the roads keep delaying the repairs because the potholes are not deep. Vehicle owners said they have to slow down and step on the brakes repeatedly on such stretches. Still, there is no way to avoid the potholes.

A Ballygunge resident said his motion sickness surges while crossing such roads as the car keeps swerving right and left, trying to avoid potholes. Swerving to avoid potholes might lead to accidents, said drivers. The difficulty level rises if such a stretch has to be crossed by someone riding a two-wheeler.

Stretches of Central Avenue, the stretch of Rashbehari Avenue between Chetla and Rashbehari crossings, the road leading to Jadavpur police station from Jibananda Setu, EM Bypass and stretches of Loudon Street are only a few to name.

Both flanks of Taratala Road are in poor condition, seen in front of Oxygen House Picture by Sanat Kr Sinha

“The stretch of Rashbehari Avenue from Chetla to the Rashbehari crossing is filled with such potholes. The lanes off Southern Avenue are in a similar condition. How many potholes do you dodge? It is impossible to avoid all of them,” said Varun Talwar, a resident of Chetla.

Talwar said someone driving at a high speed on such a pothole-riddled stretch can lose control of the car.

“I slow down and hold on to the steering firmly. Otherwise, the car would go haywire,” he said.

The risks are manifold for two-wheeler riders.

A Cossipore resident said multiple stretches of Central Avenue are pockmarked with shallow potholes. Their sheer number on a stretch poses risks of two-wheelers tumbling on the road.

“The possibilities of a two-wheeler skidding off the road are very high. The difference between a car and a two-wheeler is that the riders may fall and get badly injured,” said the man in his late 40s.

“The potholes are so many in numbers and there is so little gap between two of them that often the front tyre gets caught in one pothole and the rear in another. These are moments where the handlebars keep swerving uncontrollably. It becomes nearly impossible to keep the handlebars straight,” said the man.

A Kolkata Municipal Corporation official said such potholes mostly arise from a small crack on the road. They may grow into larger potholes in the future.

“We do repair such shallow potholes also when we undertake repairs on a road,” said the official.