New Santoshpur Road mauled by heavy trucks. Picture by Anindya Shankar Ray

Poor road conditions and unauthorised parking are the bane of commuters, particularly the students of Shree Bharati School, on New Santoshpur Road, about 5km from the Taratala crossing. About 1,300 school students are forced to travel on unpaved roads with yawning craters. If that was not enough, unending traffic snarls caused by illegally parked vehicles often delay them for their classes. Heavy trucks were found parked on New Santoshpur Road when Metro visited the spot.

“A few days back a pool car carrying a number of students almost toppled over as it tried to negotiate the huge potholes,” said Tania Arefin, a student of Shree Bharati School. “The road is in such a precarious condition that a major accident is just waiting to happen,” said Sohini Mukherjee, a Class X student of the school.

Opposite their school, a building houses the offices of seven executive engineers of the Calcutta Metropolitan Water and Sanitation Authority. “We have recently written to the public works department (PWD) to repair the road,” said an employee of the authority. “Since heavy trucks ply on this road regularly, the PWD should take extra care in repairing the roads,” said Arefin.

Students of Shree Bharati School are forced to travel on unpaved roads, narrowed by illegal parking

Local residents alleged police allowed heavy trucks to park illegally on the stretch, worsening the condition of the road. “There were drains on the road which were damaged by the heavy trucks parked here. Now these drains have been filled up,” said a resident. As a result, the road gets waterlogged even after a drizzle.

A manager of a transport company, on the other hand, alleged that the police harass them regularly if they don’t pay a bribe. “Around end-October, the cops smashed the windscreen of a number of trucks. They keep quiet for a long time if they get money,” he said.

Schoolspeak: “We informed the chairman of the municipality and the local councillor about the state of the road. They promised us that the road would be repaired after Durga puja. But they have dumped rubbish here instead,” said Swagata Banerjee, the principal of Shree Bharati School.

“The large trucks occupy a large portion of the road, leading to a bottleneck,” said Banerjee. “But if a policeman is present, the drivers will be forced to park the large trucks off the main road,” she added.

The drivers feigned ignorance. “We didn’t know that we cannot park our vehicles here,” said one of them.

Municipality’s version: “The heavy trucks are also parked on the small lanes off the main road, where there used to be municipal drains. The drivers or some others with vested interests have dumped rubbish and choked the drains so that they could be turned into parking space. This is illegal and we also lose out on parking fees. We will unclog the drains and maintain them henceforth,” said Dulal Das, the chairman of Mahestala municipality.

“A week ago we visited New Santoshpur Road along with senior PWD officials. The PWD has started work from the Akhra side and has promised to pave the entire stretch very soon,” he added.

Police version: A senior officer of the traffic department of South 24-Parganas police shrugged off responsibility. “Calcutta police regulates traffic on New Santoshpur Road,” he said.

The district police, however, promised to investigate the illegal parking issue. “We will look into the matter,” promised S.K. Chaudhary, the additional superintendent (industrial) of South 24-Parganas police.

Subhajoy Roy