KMC sets Oct 4 deadline for key road repairs

Kolkata: Following the road inspection on Monday night by mayor Firhad Hakim, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has decided to finish all repair work by October 4, with special focus on roads leading to big-ticket Pujas.

According to the civic body officials, the mayor has instructed that major thoroughfares and roads leading to big ticket Pujas must be repaired before the festival kicks in. An official said that one of the major challenges in carrying out repairs has been the intermittent but

heavy rainfall. This led to delay in completing the works within the deadline which was Mahalaya. However, to meet the new deadline, repairs will also be carried out during nighttime. To achieve the same, the civic body is also to engage additional manpower as there are forecasts of rain again from next week.

KMC will also be constituting road repair teams that can immediately reach the spots concerned to carry out quick repairs, mostly

pertaining to filling up craters.

Earlier, the Kolkata Police Headquarters Lalbazar too had sent a fresh list of roads for repair work to KMC. Roads needing last minute patchwork include MG Road, College Street, Maniktala Main Road, Lenin Sarani, SP Mukherjee Road, Ashutosh Mukherjee Road, Tollygunge Circular Road, among others.

On Monday night, the inspection drive by the mayor began from Chittaranjan Avenue and ended at Hazra Road via Shyambazar, Ultadanga, APC Roy Road, Sealdah, Ballygunge, Gariahat and New Alipore. The mayor is learnt to have instructed that no craters should be found during Puja which may cause accidents.

The KMC road repair team, so far, was working in areas such as Park Circus, MG Road, CR Avenue, SP Mukherjee Road, DH Road, Garden Reach (Paharpur Road) etc. The KMC roads department has also identified some EM Bypass stretches that require urgent repair.

The mayor has also requested the Kolkata Port authorities to repair the roads in the city under

their jurisdiction.