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Time of India
03-08-2025
- Automotive
- Time of India
KMC eyes dry window as motorists flood social media with bad road photos
1 2 3 4 Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation went all out on Sunday, trying to carry out repair jobs across the city – near Milon Mela on PC Connector, near Ambedkar Bridge on EM Bypass, and Highland Park on EM Bypass – to name a few. This was done before the first working day of the week to try and ensure that motorists receive some relief from the potholed roads and daily traffic snarls. The effort was not just restricted to KMC. Repair work reports also came from Strand Road, DH Road, and SP Mukherjee Road. Even other agencies like PWD, port authorities, and KMDA ensured that some repairs began in the Port area. The Kolkata Traffic Police forwarded all the grievances received by them on their social media pages to the civic bodies. "We received inputs about EM Bypass, DH Road, Kidderpore Road, the Bypass connectors, multiple roads in Behala, Southern Avenue, and CIT Road. We clicked those photographs and forwarded them to the relevant civic authorities. We also received brickbats for roads not in KP jurisdiction like Belghoria Expressway, Salt Lake, and Jessore Road. We have forwarded the same to Bidhannagar and Barrackpore police," said an officer at Lalbazar. You Can Also Check: Kolkata AQI | Weather in Kolkata | Bank Holidays in Kolkata | Public Holidays in Kolkata Sources claimed that even Safe Drive Save Life posts are being questioned by motorists who pointed out that no roads can be safe unless maintained. "How is it possible to ensure safe driving and save lives when the road conditions are so poor?" asked Saikat Chatterjee, one such motorist. "Accidents don't always happen due to the driver's fault; many occur because of poor road conditions. Please remove the barricades from the middle of the road. Have you submitted any written request to the Kolkata Corporation to improve the condition of the roads in Kolkata? What about Highland Park? What about Science City?" asked Prasenjit Hazra. Following the police input, a special road repairing drive by KMC continued on a 17 km stretch between Ultadanga and Dhalai Bridge near Kamalgazi on Sunday. The drive was taken up following complaints from motorists about the battered condition of EM Bypass where over 30,000 vehicles ply daily. Simultaneously, the civic body's installation of interconnected concrete blocks on the approach road of Howrah Bridge continued on Sunday. A senior official from the KMC roads department said that the special drive underway on the 17 km stretch covers the battered EM Bypass portions such as the approach road of Ambedkar Bridge, Highland Park, Ajoy Nagar, and Patuli. The work that started on Friday night will also continue tonight. The senior official who helms the KMC roads department told TOI on Sunday afternoon: "The repairing drive was carried out in full swing on the damaged Bypass stretches for two consecutive days when about 80% of the work was done. The rest of the work will be done tonight if it does not rain. We are utilising fully the dry spell to finish the repairing work fast. I inspected the Bypass today and found that the potholes developed on the stretches near VIP Bazar, Ruby, Chitkalikapur, Ajoynagar, and Highland Park are being filled up. " After the Bypass work, the civic body will also take up thorough repairing of other damaged roads including Prince Anwar Shah Road, Raja Subodh Mullick Square Road, and Ashutosh Chowdhury Avenue among others. The senior KMC official, however, rued that the DH Road is a "troublesome zone for us to carry out the repairing drive."He elaborated: "We are repairing some stretches on DH Road to make it motorable. Since the metro work is ongoing there, we are unable to take up thorough repairs. That is why some parts of the road are in a mess like the road near the airport where Metro work is underway as well." Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Friendship Day wishes , messages and quotes !
Time of India
01-07-2025
- Time of India
Road safety drive beefed up as accident deaths dip
Kolkata: The city witnessed 84 fatal accident deaths in the first six months of this year compared to 92 in the same period last year. However, with the city having around 4% of road space – which ideally should be more than 20% – the cops will need year-round initiatives like Safe Drive Save Life to keep these numbers low, commissioner of police Manoj Verma said on Tuesday. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Lalbazar launched this year's first Safe Drive Save Life campaign on Tuesday, with Verma flagging off the event near Alipore Zoo. "When I was DC Traffic back in 2007-08, we had over 400 deaths. Now, after intense efforts, this has come down below 200," he said. Sources said that this week's emphasis will be on bike-related accidents and blind spot-related accidents. DC (Traffic) Shrikant Jagannathrao Yeilwad said they are holding the Safe Drive Save Life week-long campaign in July for a reason. "We have found that accidents tend to rise between June and Aug due to slippery roads. We are trying to sensitise the motorists at this crucial stage. Besides school children being taught traffic lessons and some of them managing them, the week will see drawing, essay, and slogan competitions. Special programmes – including street plays – will take place. All 26 traffic guards will also hold their own programmes," said Yeilwad. Each traffic guard has been asked to prepare its programmes in this regard. "An essential part of the drive will be to ensure encroachment-free roads for pedestrians and encroachment-free crossings to stop jaywalking, and hence accidents," said a senior official at Lalbazar. However, each of the individual 25 traffic guards is free to highlight an issue that affects them the most and is likely to highlight those issues regularly. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now Several commercial bus, auto, taxi, and truck drivers will be attending the programme too. "A study of road accidents commissioned by us revealed that dangerous behaviour by pedestrians caused 18% of the accidents, while another 9% was due to lack of attention. Thus, the onus of safety cannot lie with motorists ," said a senior officer at Lalbazar.
