Trees

Tree branches are still lying by the roadside in many places. They have been cleared from most part of the city, though, according to traffic police officers and Calcutta Municipal Corporation engineers. The Calcutta Municipal Corporation had removed large trees from Kalakar Street and BK Pal Avenue on Tuesday, a police officer said.

A portion of Rashbehari Avenue was blocked near Triangular Park on Wednesday as CMC workers removed an uprooted tree. A CMC engineer said there were problems in getting machines and people immediately after the cyclone. “But we have hired advanced machinery from various private agencies to transport the uprooted trees.

Almost all roads have been cleared,” the CMC engineer said.

Metro, though, found uprooted trees and branches lying along stretches of Hazra Road and in parts of Ballygunge on Wednesday.

Rainwater catch pits

Agencies clearing roads of uprooted trees had pushed them by the roadside, blocking the catch pits through which rainwater reaches into sewers.

Tarak Singh, a member of the CMC’s board of administrators who heads the drainage department, said “only about four per cent of catch pits” remained blocked by trees. They will be cleared before the monsoon, Singh said.

Private engineers, who know the city’s sewer design, said if the foliage had slipped into the sump of catch pits it could block the channels that carry water to the main drainage line. “These sumps have to be cleaned,” an engineer said.

Sumps are cleaned round the year and there is no threat of flooding from clogged sumps, Singh said.

“Even during the lockdown, our men have been cleaning the sumps. There are 74 pumping stations run by the CMC and 389 pumps installed in these stations. All these pumps are in working condition,” Singh said.

Cyclone Amphan had raged across Calcutta on May 20, killing people and uprooting trees and lamp posts or leaving them to lean dangerously.

The storm snapped power lines and disrupted phone and Net connectivity. Utility services have been restored at most places but some problems still exist. Metro finds out how much normality has been restored.

Power supply

People in several pockets of Tollygunge, Jadavpur and Behala went without electricity for more than a week after the cyclone.

The power utility, CESC, initially provided households in these areas with a temporary connection that allowed every house to run a light and a fan or two lights and two fans. Now, supplies have been fully restored in almost all these places, a CESC spokesperson said on Wednesday.

A resident of Regent Estate — one of the worst-hit areas, which went without electricity for more than a week — said connections had been restored. “We are now able to use AC units, refrigerators and water pumps to draw water from underground reservoirs to overhead tanks,” the resident said.

Behala, Regent Estate, Ranikuthi, and pockets of Kasba and Jadavpur were without electricity as power lines on metal poles had snapped.

All places in CESC’s jurisdiction have at least some amount of electricity, the spokesperson said. “In most places we have restored full connection. Only in some pockets, some houses still have temporary connections… but full and permanent connections will be restored very quickly.”

DAY 14: Triangular Park

DAY 1: Queensway, near Victoria Memorial

DAY 14: Queensway

Lamp posts

Metro has reported that damaged lamp posts and metal poles pose a safety risk to people out on roads. Such lamp posts and metal poles can be found in Kasba, Lansdowne and Ballygunge, among others. The police had sent a list of such poles to the CMC, an officer said. There has been little action on the ground, the officer said.

Net connectivity

Calcuttans still have to make do with poor Net connectivity.

Around 95 per cent of the city’s wired and wireless telecom network that had been affected by the cyclone has been restored but service quality is still poor. Voice calls are patchy; there are call drops, and data services are inconsistent.

Telcom companies have two major concerns — fibre cuts as uprooted trees are being cleared and voltage fluctuations despite restoration of power in most parts of the city. As a result the load on running network sites at any point goes up to compensate for other sites.

Telecom service operators have deployed diesel generator sets, battery backups and movable network sites. Cables are being replaced wherever there are fibre cuts.

Government-owned BSNL has been able to restore its landline and broadband services after some of its telephone exchanges faced fibre cuts and power issues.

Intra-circle roaming has started but it is still not entirely successful. Subscribers are able to connect to other network towers but often calls don’t go through.

Cable and DTH services

Cable and direct-to-home (DTH) services are still not working in many places.

Multi-system operators and DTH players are still struggling to cope with complaints. Shortage of manpower and logistical challenges in moving equipment because of the lockdown are the major hindrances to restoring normal services.

Representatives of MSOs and cable operators met Firhad Hakim, the chairman of the CMC’s board of administrators, on Tuesday. Better coordination between the civic body, CESC and MSOs in fixing metal poles that carry Internet cables and television ones can now be expected, an MSO official said. It will take “at least one more week” to restore unhindered Net services, the official said.

Little change: Branches lie along Hazra Road on Wednesday

Snapped cables were seen tied together over Dover Road on Wednesday

Branches of uprooted trees being removed from a road near Birla Planetarium on Wednesday

Snapped cables and wires lie on Bijon Setu on Wednesday Pictures by Pradip Sanyal and Bishwarup Dutta