Waterlogging issues: 'Residents of Behala will breathe a sigh of relief within next three years'

Kolkata: Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim assured that residents of Behala will breathe a sigh of relief from waterlogging issues within the next three years.

Hakim said this after conducting a review meeting with Kolkata Environmental Improvement Investment Programme (KEIIP) officials on Tuesday. The KEIIP had prepared a list of roads along with a time frame of when they would dig it up for pipeline and also when they would finish settling of those roads.

The respective ward councilors will keep an eye to ensure that this work is carried out as per schedule.

"There are 23 KEIP projects. 17 such projects will complete by March this year. The rest project work will be completed within next year's rainy season," said Hakim.

He reiterated that KEIP projects are being done by consultants on contractual basis. KEIP project in the Keorapukur area was earlier scheduled to complete in August last year.

That project will be completed in March this year. About 77 pumps will be installed to overcome waterlogging issues in Behala, Bodyguard Line, Khiddipore, Amherst Street and other places where earlier there used to farming and now skyscrapers have been built there. To improve the quality of life and to arrest environmental degradation, KEIP was started in 2002.

In the last few years, KMC has brought about a phenomenal change in Kolkata by up-gradation of basic infrastructure, revamping administrative processes and introducing innovative strategies for improved delivery of citizen services.