Several residents of areas in Calcutta and Salt Lake where road repairs were under way were unable to take out their cars for two to three days as the unannounced work had left piles of debris on the lanes outside their homes.

Many alleged that all of a sudden they found that the stretches outside their homes had turned inaccessible for cars while planning to go out in the morning or while returning from work in the evening.

Unprepared for such a situation, they did not know what to do.

The residents said if they were informed beforehand about the repair work, they could have made alternative arrangements or parked the car somewhere else for a day or two.

A resident of Kasba said the top layer of the lane outside their home was scrapped off one morning two weeks ago. When the work started around 10.30am, many residents had already left for work in their cars. When they returned in the evening, they found the lane had become inaccessible for cars.

“There were large chunks of the scraped off layer lying on the lane and it inaccessible for cars. The chunks were removed only a day later. But the lane was still not fit to drive on. Finally, after requests from the residents, the road was levelled using a roller,” he said.

“All residents of the area who had left with their cars could not get into the lane. The cars had to be parked on the roads and they were unsure how safe it would be,” he said.

“If there was an announcement even one day before, then we would not have taken out the cars.”

A resident of Salt Lake had a similar experience last week.

The lane outside their home was being repaired as part of recent announcements of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) to start the long overdue repairs of the broken and battered roads in the areas under it.

On March 3, the repairs started with by scraping off the top layer of the road. “I had an important appointment where I reached late. I did not know that I will not be able to take out my car. The app cabs, too, could not come into the lane,” said the man in
his 50s.

A fresh bituminous layer was laid on Saturday.

The Kasba resident as well as the Salt Lake resident felt an announcement from the civic bodies about a day or two in advance would have avoided the difficulties they had to face.

Krishna Chakraborty, the mayor of Bidhannagar, said residents could talk to their ward councillors and ask for the dates of repairs in their neighbourhoods.

“The councillors can help them. They can ask the contractors to inform the residents about an impending repair,” she said.

A senior engineer of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) admitted that residents get inconvenienced when the road outside their homes is dug up without prior notice.

“I will tell contractors and engineers to inform the households before the work starts in a lane. It is true that people can plan better if they know the days when the lane outside their home will remain inaccessible,” said the engineer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The top layers are scraped off either because the road has become undulated or the bed of the road needs a repair or years of laying bituminous layers without removing the older one has raised the height of the roads. Many residents complain that during monsoon water from the lanes outside flow into their homes.