Heavy rainfall inundates several ‘water-pockets’ in city

Kolkata: Following heavy rainfall on Tuesday in the daytime, several parts of the city witnessed waterlogging, putting office goers in inconvenience.

Torrential downpour in the morning caused waterlogging in certain pockets of the city where the issue has been a long-standing one. In Ward 93 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), residents complained of a faulty drainage system. Stagnant water remained till early evening, causing difficulties for several residents of the area, some of whom had to wade through knee deep water to go buy essentials from nearby markets. TMC MP Saugata Roy is also a resident of the ward and his residence is part of the waterlogging pocket which covers a considerable portion of Lake Gardens.

Residents complained that KMC was informed several times but there has been no change in the situation. The only change apparent was the time taken for the water to get drained from the streets. Earlier, stagnant water remained till night, said a resident.

According to KMC, water quickly accumulates there because of the low gradient of the land. However, it was not clarified as to why the water remains stagnant for hours if the drainage system was in perfect shape. A KMC official said that the civic body had taken up drainage work before the monsoon and is still carrying out in parts of the city to improve drainage of storm water flow.

Similarly, other water-pockets in south and north Kolkata too witnessed waterlogging following the heavy rainfall in the daytime. It was learnt that the KMC is soon to receive the Rs 500 crore which the Centre was supposed to give for the flood management system. This money would be utilised to modernize the drainage pumping stations and for dredging the city’s outfall canals to rid the city of waterlogging. Civic body officials are hopeful that it may help solve the issue to a large extent.

Meanwhile, the Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore on Tuesday predicted widespread rainfall in six South Bengal districts in the next 48 hours. The MeT office prediction said that districts like Hooghly, Birbhum, East Midnapore, East Burdwan, West Burdwan, North 24-Parganas, South 24-Parganas will receive heavy rainfall.

People in Kolkata and other South Bengal districts may experience humidity related discomfort as there has been an incursion of moisture. An active monsoon axis has been situated over Bengal while a low pressure was hovering over Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Assam and also in neighbouring country Bangladesh.