Equipment kept in strategic locations to clear blocks in sewer lines and round-the-clock presence of personnel at the sluice gates opening into the Hooghly are among the measures taken by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to deal with waterlogging during the Puja.
The civic body will continue with all the measures that were in place for the monsoon during the Puja, too. The Met office has predicted rain during the Puja. South Bengal is set to receive rain between October 1 and 5, while the maximum rain in Kolkata is likely between the night of October 1 (Sashthi) and the morning of October 3 (Ashtami), an official of the Met office said.
A senior official of the KMC said 296 portable pumps were stationed in various places across the city. “These areas are prone to waterlogging. The pumps will be operated if water accumulates on the roads in the event of rain,” said a KMC official.
“The pumps will drain out water from these pockets and release the water into underground drainage lines at a higher level.” The KMC, the official said, is also keeping equipment stationed at strategic locations to unclog choked sewers and gully pits.
“The machines will be kept in the civic headquarters (on SN Banerjee Road, near Esplanade), in the Entally garage and in Goragacha near Taratala. From these locations we can reach any part of the city within a short time,” said an engineer.
But despite these measures, several parts of Kolkata get waterlogged when it rains heavily. KMC officials have said heavy rain within a short span of time will result in waterlogging. The measures are taken so that the water can be drained out in a short time. A number of pockets in the city got flooded after spells of heavy rain at least once this year. In many pockets in south and southeast Kolkata, the water receded after 24 hours.
Engineers of the KMC’s sewerage and drainage department will be working in shifts at the civic headquarters to tackle any emergency, officials said. Personnel will be posted around the clock at the penstock gates or sluice gates at the mouth of the outflow channels that drain into the Hooghly river.
If it rains heavily and roads get waterlogged, the gates have to opened and closed depending upon the timings of the high tide and low tide in the Hooghly. KMC officials said special focus would be on areas near pandals that are known to be waterlogging-prone. Several stretches of Chittaranjan Avenue, for example, are known for waterlogging. There are many pujas along and off the road.
Personnel will also be posted in waterlogging-prone pockets from morning till 10pm on all Puja days.
“They will take immediate measures like opening the lid of a manhole or clearing the mouth of gully pits if plastic items block them to let the water from the road drain out faster,” said an official of the civic body.
