KOLKATA : A spell of heavy shower and EM Bypass has turned so pockmarked that even the best of bikers and car drivers are failing to steer past craters along the road. Add to that a shoddy state of patchwork that has exposed the bones beneath the bitumen within 12 hours since a portion of the road underwent a repair on Monday night.
Right from Patuli to Kadapara, showers have left EM Bypass and the service roads parallel to it along with the arteries in a shambles, so much so that the authorities say it is unserviceable at this moment. Potholes have not only slowed down traffic but has even made the road extremely risky where major accidents are just waiting to happen.
“Last Sunday, a biker hit one of the craters and was thrown off to another puddle near Ruby Hospital. Thankfully, he had a helmet and escaped with bruises. Otherwise, the accident could have been fatal,” said Vinit Jaiswal, a resident of a highrise in Kalikapur.
The roads are particularly bad between Patuli and Highland Park, near SRFTI, opposite Ruby, near VIP Bazar, at Chingrighata and opposite Apollo hospital. Add to that the arterial roads in front of the hospitals, like Fortis, Medica, AMRI Mukundapur and RTIICS.
Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority, the custodians of Bypass, said they had started the repair works, kicking off with patchwork at VIP Bazar crossing on Monday night, but TOI found that the place has turned into mess with stonechips flying and craters coming up at the mended place by Tuesday afternoon. “Patchwork is being done whenever it is required. This year, we are using the cold mix bitumen material as it is convenient during this time,” said a KMDA official.
As for a thorough repair, officials said they expected the weather to improve a bit to take up full-fledged bituminous laying work. Authorities are, however, pondering as to how full-fledged work could be taken on the most damaged parts of EM Bypass as it was difficult to cordon off even one lane of EM Bypass. “Patchwork using cold mix process could be done easily during the night to fill up small potholes. But for large craters, hot mix bituminous laying is more suitable,” said a KMDA official.
The authorities had done patchwork a few weeks back at Ajaynagar, near Ruby crossing, near Science City and few other places, but authorities conceded that the potholes resurfaced after the downpour. “One reason could be that the contractors are not following the protocols to repair a damaged spot using cold mix material,” said a road construction expert.
