Monsoon woes: Normal life disrupted as heavy showers lash city

KOLKATA: Denizens woke up to torrential downpours on Wednesday, leaving several parts of the city—especially Salt Lake and New Town areas—waterlogged.

Despite the administration putting its best possible efforts to ward off the monsoon woes, human actions fell short in front of nature's might on a day when the state had received about 022.4 mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours.

Incessant rains wreaked havoc in the city. At several stretches, there was knee-deep water. Some of these

areas include Lalbazar Street, parts of APC Road, Amherst Street and Central Avenue, Park Circus seven-point crossing, among other main carriageways.

This apart, the massive rainfall created traffic snarls in the city as movement of vehicles were either stopped or slowed down due to the waterlogged situation.

At Ultadanga and Kankurgachi underpass, massive traffic congestion took place as the buses had to pass through the roads meant for the movement of smaller

vehicles. This apart, a bus from KB-16 route got stuck underwater at Patipukur underpass.

In New Town, the main carriageways were clear. But, several by-lanes were left waterlogged. However, the stagnant water was cleared after the rain stopped for a few hours. In the Nabadiganta Industrial Township area, the situation turned worse in the afternoon as most of the main carriageways were waterlogged.

In the evening, the situation improved a bit. But, in case of further rains, things may change.

Debasish Sen, Chairman of Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority, said: "A few roads in the area are still under water. All the pumps are working in full force to clear the water but continuous heavy rains are creating problems."

He also mentioned that in some areas where metro construction work was going on, water was getting stagnant locally due to the construction work.

In Salt Lake most of the roads became waterlogged as the Kestopur and Bagjola canals are full. Due to that the pumps are operating at a very low speed. "We cannot operate the pumps in full force as it may cause a back flush. If the rain stops, the water will be clear in a few hours," said a senior Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation official.

It may be mentioned that despite main carriageways in Salt Lake being waterlogged, it is not creating a massive problem. But movement of vehicles became very slow which caused a minor traffic snarl.

Recently, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) decided to upgrade the lock gates that offload the accumulated water from the streets into river Hooghly.

Tarak Singh, Member, Board of Administrators, along with senior officials of the Drainage department had visited all 27 lock gates and took stock of the situation.

These lock gates had been constructed during the British era. Earlier, Firhad Hakim, Chairman, Board of Revenue, had said the duration of waterlogging in the city would be less from 2022 due to the steps taken up by the KMC.