Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has drawn up a repair plan for the quake-hit road in Parnasree Palli, Behala, where Friday’s tremors left a long vertical fissure and raised concerns about the stability of nearby buildings.
Senior engineers from KMC’s civil engineering department inspected the site soon after the crack appeared. Officials said the road and surrounding structures stand on soft, reclaimed land that was once part of a pond, making the area more vulnerable to soil movement during seismic activity.
According to civic officials, the repair work will begin with stabilising the affected zone before reconstructing the damaged carriageway. The cracked portion will be dug up entirely, the gap filled with sand, and a stronger base prepared before relaying the road surface. The reconstruction, they said, will be designed to make the stretch more resilient to future tremors. Engineers are also assessing the foundations of buildings along the road. While no major structural damage has been reported so far, officials indicated that precautionary measures may be taken to reinforce foundations if required. Many of the buildings in the area have come up over the last four to five years.
Civic authorities attributed the sudden fissure to soil settlement triggered by the earthquake, compounded by the locality’s proximity to a water body and the collapse of a boundary structure around it.
KMC plans to invite a tender shortly for the restoration work and aims to complete the repairs within a month.
Meanwhile, teams have begun surveying other roads located beside ponds and water bodies across the city to check for similar vulnerabilities and prevent further damage in the event of future tremors.