Airlines dial cops on bad roads, get Jessore road repair work started

KOLKATA: Airlines do not usually concern themselves with road conditions; they are happy if the airport tarmac is okay for safe take-offs and landings. But deluged with panic calls pleading for time from flyers caught in traffic snarls caused by the heavily cratered Jessore Road, airlines have taken up the matter with the local administration following frequent late reporting by crew as well as passengers who use this potholed stretch.
And the airlines' SOS appears to have done the truck. The state public works department (PWD) that maintains Jessore Road has begun emergency repairs on a 1.2-km stretch.
The airlines were initially mystified when late shows suddenly shot up. Analysis of calls received at the airport revealed that passengers using Jessore Road complained of traffic snarls as huge craters forced vehicles to slow down to a crawl. A couple of airlines even had their crew members reporting late, leading to flight delays. Airlines officials then approached officers at the Bidhannagar Commissionerate who then got in touch with PWD and asked to carry out repairs.
Patchwork repairs on the bone-rattling, snarl-cursed stretch between Airport gate no 1 and gate no 2.5 began on Tuesday, providing temporary relief but with little assurance that the asphalt won't get washed away at the next spell of showers, exposing the craters once again.
“We had informed the PWD about the problem. They have begun patchwork between the Belghoria Expressway and airport 1 no gate crossing, the worst stretch,” said a senior officer of the commissionerate's traffic department.
The numerous potholes and craters that dotting a 1 km stretch of Jessore Road had made commute a nightmare with hour-long snarls becoming the norm during rush hour. The road was riskiest at the airport-end of Belghoria Expressway with three large craters, each at least six feet in diameter and two feet deep.
“In the three days prior to commencement of repair, at least 10 motorcyclists were injured after falling into these craters,” said a local shop owner. After dusk, lack of adequate streetlights makes driving more risky. “The potholes and craters can be spotted during the day but at night, it is hell,” said Arup Dutta, a resident of Birati, who has twice narrowly escaped getting injured.
During rush hour, as many as 130 vehicles ply on each flank every minute, a traffic police officer of airport traffic guard said. “More than half these vehicle use airport gate no 2.5 to head towards VIP Road. But potholes slow down traffic, creating a bottleneck near the gate,” the officer said. “If the traffic signal near the gate is red for two minutes, more than 100 vehicles queue up on Jessore Road,” he said.
After the patchwork on Tuesday, the pace of vehicles eased but motorists complained of another danger that it posed. Tyres of trucks, buses and trucks at times hit the edges of stone chips or broken bricks, causing them to fly like missiles and damaging other vehicles or worse, causing injury.
"The road needs to be done properly. These patchworks are of no use as they last only till the next shower. It has turned the foul air more polluted with brick dust floating about. There's also thje risk of getting hit by flying stonechips," said Mukesh Shaw, a resident of BT College who rides a scooter along this stretch daily.
A senior PWD official said the agency has plans to dig up the entire road surface and relay and concretize the stretch in future. But that is some time away. As of now, commuters and fliers have to make do with the patchwork repairs.