Clogged drains undo fight against floods

Several parts of West Bengal were flooded this monsoon, but most areas under the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) were not.

Tarak Singh, Member Mayor-in-Council (MMiC) of KMC's drainage department, says that even after a heavy downpour, water receded in 2-3 hours owing to the preventive and remedial steps taken by the civic body. "We have 73 pumping stations, of which most used to be defunct earlier. We carry out de-silting of high drains through the year. We also have 450 portable pumps which are used in different pockets in extreme situations," Singh tells DNA.

Singh claims that areas such as Raja Subodh Mullick Square, Thanthania area, Amherst Street, Muktaram Babu Street and Mahatma Gandhi Road, which were often flooded, received record rain, but escaped the annual misery.

"The underground drainage system has been revamped for smooth drainage of rainwater into the Ganga."

He admits that one of the areas which still experienced severe waterlogging was Behala in Kolkata's southwest fringe. "It's because the ongoing Kolkata Environment Improvement project disrupted the drainage system. The Rs 800-crore project will continue for another 18 months," he says.

Plastic and polythene wastes remain a problem. The KMC plans to buy advanced drainage equipment worth Rs 53 crore. "We might soon impose a fine on use and littering of plastic. We have also identified areas where drains were clogged with plastic packets. We will install dustbins there," he says. Unplanned disposal of garbage is another issue that the KMC will have to tackle.