KMC undertakes complete overhaul of drainage facilities in Kidderpore

Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has undertaken a complete overhaul of the drainage facilities in Kidderpore area, where water takes considerably longer to drain out in comparison to major parts of the city.

The century-old brick sewer drainage in Kidderpore and its adjacent areas will be revamped to ensure that accumulated water drains out at similar speed like the other parts of the city.

It has been found that when heavy rain lashed the city on August 16, stretches in and around Kidderpore Babu Bazar area like Dent Mission Row, Sudhir Bose Road, Bhukailash Road and Ekbalpore Lane had waterlogging for nearly two days, in sharp contrast to a major part of the city where water drained out in a span of six hours with the pumping stations in operation.

Some pockets in Behala, Tollygunge and a handful of stretches in North Kolkata also faced similar situation.

"The desilting has already been carried out at Meher Ali Lane. The wall of the century-old brick sewer has been wearing out. We will be putting a glass fibre liner around the wall to prevent such damage. The depth of the underground drain is around 14 feet and considering the heavy congestion in the area, our engineers have taken up work during night," said an official of the Town Planning & Town Development (TP & TD) department of KMC, which is executing the work.

The Urban Development and Municipal Affairs department has sanctioned Rs 22.3 crore for the facility revamp. "There will be CCTV surveillance underground so that progress of work can be monitored by senior officials directly from KMC. The finance and audit section needs to keep a track of the work," the official added.

The location of the Fancy Market being at the heart of Kidderpore, the garbage, particularly from the vegetable market, is dumped there and often goes into the drainage system. The use of plastic in the market is also a major contributor in choking of drains.

There were reportedly two deaths due to electrocution in waterlogged areas in and around Kidderpore and Firhad Hakim, who is the MLA from the Port area, had faced agitation from the local residents in the area last year during monsoon, when there was heavy waterlogging.

The plan was chalked out accordingly and after arranging the funds the work for drainage overhaul was undertaken.

Member, Mayor-in-Council (Drainage) Tarak Singh said that a new pumping station is coming up at Kabitirtha area. "We have already identified drains and mechanised desilting has started in full swing. We hope that things will witness a drastic change during the monsoon next year," Singh said.