Scene 1: PWD minister Pulak Roy and department secretary Antara Acharya inspect several roads leading to Arambagh in Hooghly earlier this week to ensure that all potholes are repaired urgently before chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s visit on Tuesday.

Scene 2: The Bengal government includes issues related to roads in the Amar Para Amar Samadhan reachout initiative at the last minute to allow people to lodge complaints related to carriageways that have fallen into disrepair. Chief secretary Manoj Pant acknowledges on Monday that roads feature most prominently among citizens’ gripes at the Samadhan camps.

Scene 3: Speaker Biman Banerjee asks the PWD minister in June to install a complaint box in the Assembly after multiple MLAs raise questions on the pathetic condition
of roads.

Moral of the story: Roads in Bengal are not in good shape. The situation has come to such a pass that the public works department is resorting to patchwork repairs so the chief minister has a seamless ride during her visits to the districts. Which brings us to the more ominous muddle — there appears to be no concerted effort or intent to offer even the basic services to the common people.

A senior PWD official blamed the “excessive rainfall” in the past month for the abominable condition of the roads. But department engineers have a different story to tell, of course, off the record. Conversations with the engineers offer a peek into the actual reasons behind the deplorable state of the roads:

Mastic asphalt

Although it has been observed that the use of mastic asphalt gives roads a lifespan of 15-20 years, the cash-strapped government is reluctant to use the material as the costs are higher than bitumen.

Mastic asphalt is a mix of sand, fine stone chips, limestone powder and bitumen. It works as a water-resistant layer on the road and prevents it from damage over a significantly longer period. Mastic asphalt is a much better option, especially in areas that receive heavy rain.

Road-related complaints are notably fewer in Mumbai because the authorities use mastic asphalt in view of the heavy showers the city witnesses every year.

In Bengal, mastic asphalt has been used to build Mayo Road, Commiserate Road in Hastings, and on Vidyasagar Setu, among others. These roads have endured for close to 30 years. The PWD engineers say these roads were laid manually, but the National Green Tribunal has stopped such use of mastic asphalt as it causes heavy pollution.

“In 2018, the PWD set up plants and bought machines from Europe to facilitate the use of mechanised mastic asphalt. But the department has not been able to use them so far as the state is not ready to shoulder the additional 20 per cent cost required for mechanised mastic asphalt,” an official said.

Lack of initiative

The engineers say the majority of the roads in Bengal need to be widened as they were built more than 20-25 years ago and have not been broadened since. As a result, the load on them has increased significantly and crossed bearable limits. Even if repaired, the roads give way in a few months.

Overloading by vehicles is only compounding the problem and the government has not been able to curb the menace. Two-lane roads are heaving under the weight of overloaded vehicles.

“Once a road starts bearing the load of 10,000 passenger cars a day, it should be widened to four lanes. In Bengal, the majority of the roads are double-laned while the number of cars using them daily has long crossed 10,000,” an engineer said.

An engineer said: “For example, NH60 that runs through five districts and terminates at Moregram in Murshidabad is now fit for six-laning as it bears the cumulative weight of more than 22,000 passenger cars a day.”

“However, it is still a two-lane highway. As a result, the health of the road shows no sign of improving despite regular repairs,” the engineer added.

Sources in the state administration say the government’s reluctance to acquire land for highways has left the roads in Bengal in a shambles.

“There are funds, but the lack of land has made the situation critical,” said an engineer involved in the upkeep of national highways in the state.

“The Centre has cleared proposals to widen 20 national highways in Bengal and funds have been allocated. But the delay in land acquisition has indefinitely held up the projects, worth ₹40,000 crore. As the projects are getting delayed, the costs are going up. If the Centre now decides to withdraw the projects, the state will be affected badly,” another engineer said.

Roadside encroachments

The state government’s reluctance to remove illegal encroachments along the roads is causing severe damage to the highways and other major thoroughfares as the drainage system is getting affected, engineers say.

“Water is the main enemy of bitumen, which works as a glue to hold the base, sub-base and top layer of the road. The base and sub-base consist of stone chips and sand. Bitumen gets weakened if water remains stagnant. The water seeps to the base and sub-base and destroys the basic composition of the road. The components get disintegrated and the roads witness wear and tear,” said an engineer.

Diamond Harbour Road, which was relaid by the PWD a few years ago, has started to crumble on many stretches as the drainage system has got damaged because of illegal encroachments up to Joka, an engineer said.

Poor materials

In many cases, the work of contractors is not being monitored, the engineers say. As a result, poor-quality materials are being used in some areas, aggravating the condition of the roads.

An engineer said that as the state was forced to import bitumen from West Asia since PSUs like Indian Oil can’t meet the demand, it was important to check the grading of the material.

“Grading standards are not the same in West Asia and India. Any mistake in checking the grading of bitumen can spell disaster. As we receive more rain than West Asia, we need higher-grade bitumen, otherwise the roads won’t last. Unfortunately, sometimes the quality of bitumen is not maintained,” another engineer said.