8 succumb to rains in Kolkata

Flight and local train schedules  affected

KOLKATA: Unlike Mumbai or Gujarat, it was just a matter of three to four hours of continuous shower. But that was enough to throw Kolkata and other parts of West Bengal out of gear on Tuesday. The rains have already taken a toll of eight lives in different parts of the state.

Out of the eight persons killed, six persons belonged to the same family in Bishnupur in South 24 Parganas and all of them died when the walls of the house where they were sleeping collapsed following heavy showers. One each in Kolkata and Madhyamgram in North 24 Parganas also died in similar incidences of wall collapse.

Kolkata was paralysed with heavy water-logging at a number of points in the city. Although water-logging started early morning on Tuesday, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) authorities did not bother to switch on all the pumping stations for quick release of stagnated water.

Initially, only 25 out of a total 350 pumping stations were operating. However, at a much later hour, following protests from various corners of the city, the KMC authorities started operating all the pumping stations. The KMC mayor, Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharjee received flak for the corporations’s inefficiency. The opposition councillors of Trinamool Congress also staged protest demonstrations.

The chief minister’s schedule also went for a toss due to water logging. Heavy rains also hampered local train services.  The arrival and departure of flights were also affected heavily.