Metro work throws traffic out of gear in Salt Lake

KOLKATA: The stretch from Karunamoyee to Sector V in Salt Lake has become a motorist's nightmare, thanks to the East-West Metro construction work.
With the construction being carried out along the stretch, one flank of the road has been closed to traffic while cars move at a snail's pace along the other that dots large craters and is often waterlogged.Around 5,000 BSNL landlines in Salt Lake went out of order on Thursday, allegedly because of construction work on the Metro.
Traffic at the Karunamoyee crossing and the stretch from City Centre to Karunamoyee is perpetually chaotic due to the ongoing work. Large craters and potholes can be seen all along the stretch from Mayukh Bhavan to Karunamoyee. With the Karunamoyee-bound flank closed to traffic for the work, the pressure of the two-way vehicle count on the other flank has proved too much for the road, damaging it in the process. The rains have further added to its woes, with the entire stretch now a muddy mess with almost no space to walk. With buses entering and leaving the dilapidated Karunamoyee bus terminus continuously, the entire area is in chaos.
Bidhannagar Municipality's chairman-in-council (PWD) Anupam Dutta agreed that the condition of the road deteriorated due to construction work of the Metro. "We can start road repairs only after Metro work is completed in and around Salt Lake. There is no point repairing roads now," he reasoned.
However, officials of Gammon, the construction firm executing the East-West Metro project, claimed the roads near Karunamoyee were damaged by rain. "The area's sewerage and drainage system is in poor shape. The road gets damaged every year and it has nothing to do with our work. In fact, it is we who are doing patchwork repairs of the road to make it as convenient for motorists as possible," said a Gammon official at the project site.
Gammon has also appointed volunteers to monitor traffic movement at the spot. "They have appointed quite a few volunteers to manage traffic. Some traffic diversions have been made," said Bidhannagar additional SP Debabrata Das.
Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation managing director Sumantra Chaudhury, who is also the state transport secretary, said they are working on restoring the damaged roads. "It is true that the roads have been damaged. But we are also restoring them and have already restored some stretches near City Centre," he said.
Construction engineers, however, said road conditions normally deteriorate where large-scale construction work is on. "Some damage to roads is unavoidable and construction agencies cannot be blamed for it. However, so much damage wouldn't have occurred had the road been wider," said well-known construction engineer Anjan Dutta.