KOLKATA: Videos showing motorcycles skidding on a freshly painted rainbow-coloured stretch of road in Kolkata went viral on Wednesday, raising safety concerns and triggering a row over the suitability of the paints used on road surfaces.Opposition parties and environmentalists questioned the safety of the initiative.West Bengal chief minister Suvendu Adhikari ordered a probe into the incident, tasking Kolkata police commissioner Ajay Kumar Nand with examining the matter, an official said.Ahead of the festive season, the state government has painted several road surfaces across the city in bright colours.Urban development and municipal affairs minister Agnimitra Paul said the Gariahat flyover in south Kolkata, the Chingrighata flyover in the east and a stretch of Red Road in the heart of the city had been painted in rainbow colours while “keeping safety guidelines in mind”.Traditional Bengali decorative art ‘Alpana’ has also been drawn near the Park Circus seven-point crossing and the Gariahat flyover to beautify the city and promote its heritage, Paul told reporters. The paints will wear off in a few months, she said.Within days of the painting work, dashcam videos showed bikers skidding on the rainbow-coloured stretch of the Chingrighata flyover after rain. However, the veracity of the videos circulating on social media could not be ascertained.Paul later said, “The chief minister has directed us to look into the complaints over the paint. The Kolkata Police Commissioner has also been asked to examine the matter.”She maintained that the paint used on the roads was “anti-skid” and should not, by itself, cause motorcycles to fall. However, the circumstances surrounding the reported accidents were being investigated, the minister said.The opposition Congress, Mamata AITC and CPI(M) questioned the safety implications of the beautification initiative undertaken ahead of Durga Puja, the first major festival season since the BJP came to power in West Bengal.“The freshly painted flyover has turned into a death trap, with bikes skidding and accidents occurring at the very first spell of rain,” the Mamata AITC said in a post on X, demanding accountability from Paul.“The people of Bengal deserve safe roads, not dangerous infrastructure,” it added, attaching the video clips.State Congress general secretary Ashutosh Chatterjee also wrote to Paul and Kolkata Municipal Corporation commissioner and administrator Smita Pandey, flagging potential road safety hazards associated with painting carriageways with conventional paints.In his letter, Chatterjee said glossy paints should not be used indiscriminately on surfaces meant for motor vehicle traffic, as they could reduce tyre grip and increase the risk of skidding.CPI(M) leader Partha Pratim Biswas also criticised the painting of flyover roads.“This is against road safety rules and violates the principles of road construction by using shiny glossy paint particles when it endangers the lives of motorists and bikers, particularly during rain,” he added.Environmentalist Somendra Mohan Ghosh told PTI that while any initiative to beautify the city was welcome, such paints should not be permitted on motorable roads.Ghosh said he had written to both Paul and chief minister Suvendu Adhikari on the issue. “I am worried; glossy oil paint on a motorable road is dangerous and should not be allowed. You can never paint the whole wheel-track area with ordinary house paint.”“Painting can also conceal potholes, increasing the risk for commuters,” he said, adding that peeling paint could soon make the stretches look unattractive instead of improving the city’s appearance.Ghosh said roads in the country are marked using paints in accordance with the Indian Roads Congress’s IRC:35-2015, the official Code of Practice for Road Markings (Second Revision).Glossy or oil paints should be avoided because of their very low skid resistance, the environmental expert said.“Gloss forms a smooth film. When wet with water, oil or diesel, the friction coefficient drops to a very low level. Two-wheelers and cars will skid,” he said.The friction coefficient on a road is the ratio of the frictional force resisting a vehicle’s tyre motion to the normal force pressing the tyre against the pavement.Ghosh said road-marking materials were better alternatives to conventional oil paints because of their technical superiority, longer life and reflective properties.Specific thermoplastic materials, rather than oil paint, are recommended for road markings on national highways and major roads, he said.Meanwhile, Paul rejected suggestions that the initiative was linked to the LGBTQ+ community or any particular social group. The rainbow flag is a widely recognised symbol of LGBTQ+ pride, diversity and solidarity.“These rainbow colours have not been used on Kolkata’s roads with any particular community in mind. We have undertaken this initiative to highlight the city’s heritage, harmony and the spirit of togetherness,” she said.Paul said the work had not been funded with taxpayers’ money and had been carried out with support from firms using their corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds.Environmental and social activist Naba Dutta questioned whether the purpose of painting roads in bright colours had been adequately explained and whether the initiative had sufficiently considered its impact on road users.(With inputs from PTI)
