A road and a pond cannot be told apart in Behala’s Shyamsundarpalli. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

Four days after Calcutta received the heaviest spell of rain this season, parts of Behala are still under water. Political rivalry only prolonged the misery of residents.

The worst affected areas are Silpara, Adarsha Pally, Airport Road Bylane, Sabarnapara, Narayan Roy Road, Netaji Pally, Vidyasagar Pally, Daspara, Shyamsundarpalli, Unique Park, Anandanagar, Kalitala and Rabindranagar.

About a quarter of the 28 sq km that make up Behala remained submerged on Friday evening.

Engineers in the civic drainage department said the accumulated water could have been pumped out of Barisha and some other pockets had it not been for a feud between the CPM and Trinamul councillors.

“We tried to set up pumps on Tuesday to remove water from Barisha’s Sabarnapara (ward 126) but the CPM councillors of ward 123, Utpal Chatterjee, and of ward 124, Sukumar Sarkar, did not let us,” a civic engineer told Metro.

There is still ankle-deep water on Narayan Roy Road, Kalikinkar Roy Road and Silpara in ward 124.

“There is a drainage line under the portion of Diamond Harbour Road in ward 124. But the councillor there is not letting us pump out water through the channel. However, water from wards 125 and 127 is being drained into our area,” alleged the Trinamul councillor of ward 126, Shyamadas Roy.

“We cannot allow water to be pumped into our ward as it would flood pockets like Natun Pally. We never blocked natural drainage flow from wards 125 and 126,” said Sarkar.

At Daspara and Shyamsundarpalli, garbage and even snakes were being washed into houses by the knee-deep water. A submerged road and the pond beside it could not be told apart.

“We will be marooned for the next four months. It’s the same story every year,” rued Deepa Roy, of Shyamsundar Palli First Lane in ward 129.

Trinamul councillor of the area, Anjan Das, expressed helplessness.