People approaching the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport from North 24-Parganas or after crossing Belgharia Expressway, will no more have to negotiate with pot holes as a "crucial stretch" on the Jessore Road will soon be made of concrete.
During and after every monsoon, a small stretch of 1.5 km on Jessore Road towards Birati from gate number 1 of the airport is in a complete mess. During monsoon, the entire stretch remains under knee deep water. The condition of the road turns worse once the logged water recedes as it becomes full of potholes.
Because of potholed stretch, traffic jam on the stretch is a very common sight and many people get delayed to reach the airport because of these snarl. The stretch is repaired almost every year and lakhs of rupees are spent. Movement of heavy duty trucks from the city to north Bengal and Bangladesh and vice-versa is another reason behind the damage of the stretch of the road.
With the rest of the part of Jessore Road, that connects the airport with North 24-Parganas, remaining in a good condition round the year, the PWD engineers had been working out for the past few years to resolve the problem that people face just due to this 1.5 km stretch. Various steps were taken but nothing turned out to be fruitful. Thus, the decision was taken to concretise the stretch, which is far expensive than constructing bitumen road.
"But it would be a one-time investment and we do not have to worry for the next few decades. Moreover, the state government does not have to bear the recurring cost of repairing the stretch every year," said an officer of the Public Works Department (PWD).
Because of lack of drainage system on the stretch, waterlogging is common during the monsoon, damaging the blacktop surface of the thoroughfare. When the drains overflow, water come on to the road, thus, damaging the top surface. According to the senior officer of the PWD, all the problems will be ironed out if the bitumen road on the stretch is replaced by concrete. A comprehensive plan has also been chalked out to upgrade the drainage system. The stretch will be concretised at a cost of around Rs 22 crore and a tender will be floated inviting firms to do the job. It is expected that the concretisation of the stretch will be ready before monsoon.
It may be mentioned that many state highways maintained by the Public Works Department have been concretised earlier for better results.