Housing complexes must have a drainage plan for receiving sanction: KMC

Kolkata: Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has made it mandatory for housing complexes to have a proper drainage plan for receiving sanction. A number of housing projects in the added areas of the city like Mukundapur, Anandapur off EM Bypass have been facing prolonged water logging due to lack of infrastructure in the flow of rain water from such housing projects.

"KMC has stopped sanctioning any housing projects without drainage observation. The erstwhile civic board has not done it right in sanctioning housing projects without arrangements of drainage in case there is heavy rain," Chairman Board of Administrators, Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Firhad Hakim said.

However, the major cause of waterlogging has been attributed to the silting of the canals that drain water from Mukundapur — Guniagachhi and Tollygunge-Panchannagram (TP) canals. Water flows slowly through the silted canals which causes prolonged waterlogging on roads from where water is discharged into these canals.

Tarak Singh, who is in charge of the Drainage department paid a visit to Mukundapur area on Friday along with engineers, also found that the old Chowbhaga Drainage Pumping Station—which discharges water from Mukundapur into another canal, which carries water out of Kolkata—is unable to work to its full potential. The station can simultaneously run eight pumps that can discharge 400 cubic foot per second of water, which is proving to be inadequate.

Proper underground drainage infrastructure to ensure that the conduits in the area are capable of carrying rainwater into the canals is also another factor that needs to be looked into.

"The desiliting of the canals which the Irrigation department will be taking up soon after the rainy season gets over will mitigate waterlogging to a large extent," the Chairman Board of Administrators, KMC stated.