MillenniumPost
Bengal

KMC mulling mini pumping station to reduce waterlogging woes

Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is planning to create the infrastructure for setting up a mini pumping station with dewatering pump, which will send back the accumulated water on roads to the Hooghly river, when there is waterlogging during the monsoon.
"We have witnessed that in areas which are adjacent to the Hooghly river, there is still waterlogging during the monsoon. This is because the lockgate of the river is closed for more than five hours during high tide and if there is heavy rain, the accumulated water cannot drain into the river. The dewatering pump will be used to channelise this water into the river," said a senior official of KMC's drainage department.
It may be mentioned that KMC will soon start the pilot project in this regard by installing a dewatering pump at Jackson Ghat, adjacent to Millennium Park.
At present, there are 18 lockgates connected to the river as well as the Tolly Nullah, popularly known as Adi Ganga, which is closed two hours prior to the time of high tide and is opened again two hours after the high tide.
It may be mentioned that the preliminary sketching and the estimate for the project has already been done and it has been sent to the board of engineers of the drainage department. It will be finally sent to Mayor Sovan Chatterjee for his approval.
If the project kicks off at Jackson Ghat then the civic body will go forward in developing the infrastructure at the points where there are lockgates in the city.
It may be mentioned that the efforts of KMC's drainage department has brought a noticeable improvement in the condition of the city during the monsoon season. There has been a constant upgradation of technology and setting up of infrastructure for a complete overhaul of the drainage system.
Mayor Sovan Chatterjee claims that the situation in Kolkata during monsoon is far better than cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Nagpur, Ahmedabad etc. "Even when there was rainfall above 120mm, there was accumulation of water in some pockets but water drained out at a very rapid pace," an official of KMC's drainage department said.

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