BMC makes sewer treatment mandatory for new complexes

Kolkata: Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has made construction of Sewer Treatment Plant (STP) mandatory in new housing complexes. No building plan without the provision for STP will be cleared. The decision was taken at a meeting held at BMC recently.

BMC has taken up a major plan to install drainage system in vast areas surrounding Baguiati-Kestopur, spreading over wards 1-28. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 330 crore and a private consultancy firm has been engaged to prepare the scheme.

The open drains in the areas situated under wards 1 to 28 will be covered with concrete slabs, whereas the construction of the underground drainage system is likely to begin after monsoon.

Vast areas surrounding Baguiati began to develop from the early 1990s, during the Left Front regime. Thousands of apartments subsequently came up in Baguiati, Teghoria and its neighbourhood.

Rajarhat-Gopalpur Municipality, which was once a den of CPI(M), did not bother to stop illegal constructions. The water bodies between Ultadanga

and Kolkata Airport, covering a distance of 7.5 km, were filled up to make room for apartments.

The North 24-Parganas district administration had identified 123 illegal buildings but no action had been taken against them.

The buildings came up without any underground drainage system. The Left Front did not take any steps in this regard and during monsoon the drains overflowed, causing great inconvenience to the residents.