KMC holds meeting to take stock of desiltation work

Kolkata: Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) held a meeting with the state Irrigation & Waterways department on Monday, to take stock of desiltation work in the canals to ensure that water drains out through these canals properly during the monsoon and there is no accumulation of water. There are around 16 canals under the KMC area that come under the aegis of the state Irrigation department.

"I had sought a report from the Irrigation department on March 13, on the progress in desiltation work of the clogged canals within a month. They have submitted a list of the canals and the projected time in which they will complete the work. They have also mentioned the time when they will take up such work again," said Member, Mayor-in-Council (Drainage) Tarak Singh.

Singh has directed his departmental DG Amit Roy to fix a date so that he can take stock of the desiltation work himself.

"We have to ensure that during heavy rainfall, the water is able to pass through the gully pits into the underground drainage system, so that we can use our drainage pumping station to pump the water into the river through these canals," said a senior official of the Drainage department who attended the meeting.

The Kolkata Environment Improvement Investment Programme (KEIIP), with the help of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), has integrated a few pumping stations while several pipelines have been cleansed during the dry weather. Pump capacities have also been increased.

The meeting in KMC headquarters on Monday was chaired by Singh. State Irrigation minister Saumen Kumar Mahapatra could not attend the meeting because of his preoccupation but senior officials of his department attended the meeting along with officials of KMC's Drainage department.