Waist-deep water in Silpara, a 'gift' left behind by the Left

The residents of some pockets in Shilpara in Behala are paying a very heavy price during monsoon every year due to the folly and lack of farsightedness of the CPI(M) control board that had controlled Kolkata Municipal Corporation for 15 years from 1985.

The hapless residents have sought intervention of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The areas fall under Behala West Assembly constituency where the local MLA is Partha Chatterjee, state Education minister.

There is waist deep water on Narayan Roy Road, a stretch on Brojomoyee Debya Road, areas surrounding Chandir Math and Sashan Kalitala. The civic authorities deployed portable pumps to clear the accumulated water from the streets. But that has not yielded the desired results. Water has entered in the ground floor flats and people had to wade through waist deep water to reach markets and their places of work.

Civic officials said waterlogging is a major menace in Shilpara. But this year, heavy shower in the past 10 days has aggravated the problem.

The folly and shortsightedness of CPI(M)-led KMC from 1985 to 2000 is solely to be blamed for the waterloggging. The CPI(M) had decided to include three municipalities, namely, Jadavpur, South Suburban and Garden Reach under KMC ostensibly to provide better civic amenities in the areas but actually to establish its control over Kolkata.

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation Act 1984 came into force with the mayor in council system and the election was held in 1985 when the Left Front took control over KMC for the first time since its inception.

After coming to power, CPI(M) allowed builders to pull down old structures to make rooms for highrises and fill up waterbodies to construct them on reclaimed lands. Between 1985 and 1990, the topography of Behala, Garden Reach and Jadavpur changed and these areas began to look like

concrete jungles. The things turned from bad to worse and there are several lanes and by lanes in Behala where six-storeyed buildings have come up on six feet road.

Shilpara and its neighbourhood fell prey to the builders who filled up hundreds of waterbodies. As a result of this, during heavy showers, there are no places to pass the accumulated water from the streets.

The KMC is planning to prepare a comprehensive scheme to make the area free from waterlogging.