Kolkata Municipal Corporation’s road-repair drive is racing against a rain threat and an October 5 deadline, but only 21 of 76 shortlisted thoroughfares had been repaired by Saturday evening, leaving motorists and pedestrians exposed to potholes across the city.
KMC engineers and workers were operating in what senior officials described as “emergency mode” across the civic body’s 144 wards. Patchwork repairs had been completed on stretches including Patuli Connector, APC Road, Bhupen Bose Sarani, Central Avenue and Amherst Street, according to a senior KMC official.
“Unless someone digs up these repaired spots, the repairs should last for a long time,” the official said. However, several roads remained unfinished. Motorists reported unrepaired potholes on Bondel Road in Ballygunge, while commuters in parts of Salt Lake, including Sukanta Nagar, Nalban and Mahishbathan, said potholes had grown into craters that were difficult for pedestrians to cross.
The condition of some repaired stretches has also been affected by leaking underground water lines. Commuters said bitumen covers had worn off where water was escaping beneath the road. The KMC official said teams had been instructed to attend to leaks as early as possible and that paved blocks were being used in areas vulnerable to underground water leakage.
Kolkata Police has sent the civic body a list of roads with multiple potholes. Senior police officers said officers-in-charge of all 26 traffic guards had been directed to coordinate with officials in the KMC boroughs to speed up repairs and track pending locations.
“It is difficult to state the number of stretches where repairs have been completed and where they are pending. But the repairs are going on, and the list is being updated dynamically,” a senior officer overseeing traffic management in Kolkata said.
The state urban development minister, Agnimitra Paul, said quick-fix machines capable of repairing potholes with bituminous mix had been deployed. She also said the chief minister had instructed authorities to undertake repairs at night, if necessary, using lights. According to Paul, road repairs would be completed by October 10.
The two deadlines reflect the scale of the ongoing exercise. KMC commissioner Smita Pandey had set October 5 as the deadline for repairs under the civic body. Pandey said Kolkata had been divided into five zones under five senior officers and that executive engineers had been instructed to inspect sites and upload reports.
The civic body has 13 pothole-repairing vehicles, which Pandey said would be sent to locations where small potholes had emerged. The repair programme is being carried out as rain remains a concern, raising the risk that fresh waterlogging or underground leaks could damage newly laid surfaces.
For daily commuters, the immediate issue remains the gap between the repair schedule and the number of damaged stretches still awaiting attention. The KMC and Kolkata Police are continuing to update the list of completed and pending repairs, while the civic body’s October 5 deadline and the state government’s October 10 target remain the next milestones.
