Heavy downpour lashes Kolkata, more rain expected in next 48 hrs

Heavy rain in various parts of the city disrupted normal life with many places in the metropolis going under water on Tuesday afternoon prompting the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to act on a war footing to discharge the accumulated water.

The situation may be further complicated as the Regional Meteorological Department in Kolkata has predicted some more showers in the next 48 hours in South Bengal districts including Kolkata due to a low pressure turf that has developed over Jharkhand and South Bengal.

The drainage department of the KMC has, however, assured that they are ready to fight the situation and adequate measures have been taken to ensure that the accumulated water is discharged quickly.

On the other hand, Mayor Sovan Chatterjee blamed a section of the people in the city who regularly dump garbage and plastic material on the roads that block the gully pits giving a hard time to the KMC workers to clear the water.

Chatterjee said the civic body is going to take an initiative to impose fines on those who will be caught engaging in such acts. If the incidents of throwing garbage and plastic materials cannot be checked through the imposition of fines, stringent measures may be adopted by KMC.

Mayor also hinted of lodging FIR against those who throw such materials on the streets.

"An awareness drive would be taken up by KMC in a large scale to check such incidents. If it is not fruitful, the civic body will go for imposing fines. The ultimate step would be registering police complaints against those who will be caught while throwing plastic materials on the roads," he added.

The Mayor also added: "We are giving dustbins to the people for keeping garbage there. The civic body along with the police conducted surveillance in some parts of South Kolkata. The drive would be intensified."

According to the MeT office prediction, a few South Bengal districts including Birbhum and Murshidabad may witness heavy rainfall in the next 48 hours. There is a prediction of rain in the city as well. North Bengal may also receive moderate rainfall, as per the prediction.

Many stretches in the city and outskirts have become inundated since the overnight rainfall causing serious inconvenience to people.

The underpasses at Ultadanga, Dum Dum, Kankurgachi and Patipukur went under knee deep water on Tuesday morning.

There was water-logging in some stretches of Amherst Street, Dum Dum Road, Raja Manindra Road, Muktarambabu Street, Kalutola Street along with a few stretches of Central Avenue.

Water-logging also took place at Hudco crossing, Phool Bagan, Park Circus and in some portions on the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass.