Rabindra Sarobar's restoration work begins

Kolkata: Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) has started restoration work at Rabindra Sarobar, the biggest artificial lake in Kolkata that got badly damaged due to the cyclone.

Two teams of KMDA visited the lake on Monday to assess the extent of damage. Preliminary investigation reveals that the extent of damage would not be less than Rs 1.5 crore.

The workers began repairing the fencing near Rabindra Sarobar stadium that got damaged.

Heavy-duty payloaders were deployed to remove the trees that had blocked the road. Conservancy workers began removing the leaves. Big trees that included Krishnachura, Radhachura, Kadam, Bakul, Banyan, Bottle Brush had been uprooted. Altogether 300 trees were uprooted.

The cyclone Amphan had taken a heavy toll on Rabindra Sarobar damaging 30 iron grills each covering 100 meters length. Twelve fencing had been damaged, the length of each fence was 40 m. Ten lamp posts had been damaged. The iron gates at the entrance had been badly damaged. Roads inside lake along with the paver blocks had been damaged in many areas. Around 100 CCTV cameras had been damaged. The full fledged restoration work would begin after clearing the debris.

Sudip Ghosh, bio diversity expert said the flora and fauna of Rabindra Sarobar had been badly damaged. Though no bodies of birds could be spotted inside the area, they had either moved to other places or got killed during the storm that had hit the city with wind speed varying anything between 130 km and 140 km per hour. All the big trees at the island inside Rabindra Sarobar had been uprooted. These trees gave shelter to birds of various species.