Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has started repairing a drainage pipe under Lower Rawdon Street to try and reduce waterlogging in the neighbourhood where former cricketer Sourav Ganguly has recently bought a property.
Ganguly had written to Kolkata’s mayor, Firhad Hakim, on January 7 about the problem of waterlogging along the road. He owns a 23.6-cottah plot on Lower Rawdon Street.
Ganguly had expressed apprehension that waterlogging “will damage the houses in the area, spoil cars and create lot of problems”.
A senior official of the KMC said the repairs began late on Friday and will be completed by Sunday.
“We will install a new pipeline on a roughly 15-metre stretch. The pipe will be 600mm in diameter,” said the official.
“The brick sewer line on a stretch under the street has been damaged and that is hindering the flow of water along the sewer line. We will fix the problem.”
The KMC hopes the repairs will reduce the waterlogging problems along the road.
The Telegraph reported on February 2 that Ganguly had written to Hakim about the waterlogging problem on the street.
(L-R) Sourav Ganguly’s Lower Rawdon Street property, Sourav Ganguly
File photographs
The KMC suggested that they had planned the work even before Ganguly’s prodding. “The letter from Ganguly came in the meanwhile,” an official said. “We were waiting for permission from police to start work.”
The repairs will affect traffic on the busy AJC Bose Road. A police officer said the KMC would work on a stretch of the Exide-bound flank of AJC Bose Road, between Beckbagan and Minto Park.
“Cars will run along one lane of the Exide-bound flank while work will be underway in the other lane,” said a police officer. “We will deploy additional policemen and policewomen to manage traffic.”
A police officer’s advice: commuters can move through Park Street in the morning and Shakespeare Sarani in the afternoon and evening and then take Jawaharlal Nehru Road to reach the Exide crossing to avoid being stuck in a snarl.
If a portion of the road remains blocked, it could slow down traffic despite best efforts by the police, the officer said.
In the letter to Hakim, Ganguly wrote: “You are aware that I have bought a property situated at 8/1A Lower Rawdon Street.”
He added: “I am writing this letter to bring to your notice the present situation of the drainage of this area. With the present drainage system of the locality, a good shower results in enormous waterlogging in the entire area.”
The letter also mentioned “the clogging of rainwater in some of these parts... becomes as deep as 3 to 4 feet.”
The letter read: “Very soon I will start construction of the building. Necessary plans for the property are ready to be submitted. Mutation of the property is under process and will be completed in some days.”
