State to approach World Bank for Rs 407 cr to upgrade city's drainage

KOLKATA: The state government will approach the World Bank for funds worth Rs 407 crore to upgrade the drainage system in the city.

The decision was taken at a high-level meeting held at Nabanna on Friday evening. It was attended by Chairman Board of Administrator of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Firhad Hakim, Chief Secretary HK Dwivedi and senior officers of the state Irrigation and Waterways department.

With the fund, upgradation of 114.2 km sewerage system will be undertaken. At the same time, 16 pumping stations will be modernized. Three solid waste treatment plants will be set up. The SWT plants will be set up at Briji, Wireless Parka and Gold Green. About 15.5 km stretch of Tolly's Nullah will be desilted under the project.

Desiltation of eight canals in and around Kolkata will also be carried out under a separate project. Senior officers of the KMC, Irrigation department and RVNL will be undertaking a survey to get a clear picture of the present condition of the canals.

Though the short term work will be taken up at the earliest, the main work of desiltation will be taken up after the monsoon. The RVNL has been included in the drive as construction of Metro projects is taking place near some of the canals. The canals where the Metro projects are going on include TOP Canal, Suburban Head Canal and Town Head Canal. Hakim said: "Our primary focus is to carry out desiltation of canals to ensure that water recedes from the city roads fast".

Water-logging in Kolkata has been minimised due to upgradation of underground sewer lines with the funds from Asian Development Bank a decade ago. Vulnerable water pockets in areas surrounding Assembly and Town Hall, Thantania and its neighbourhood, Kalighat, Rashbehari and vast areas of south Kolata do not experience water-logging any more. Accumulated water is cleared very fast because of the upgradation of the underground sewer line in these areas. The KMC has taken up a massive desilting work of the underground sewer line in vast areas in southern fringes, including Behala, Shakuntala park and parts of Sarsuna. Installation of two pumps at Kidderpore is expected to minimise the duration of water-logging in vast areas surrounding Mominpur and Port.