KOLKATA: Bank employee Amit Roychowdhury could not attend his office thrice this month. On all three occasions, he couldn’t even step out of his Sukeas Street house as the
road outside turned into a rivulet and remained so for days at a stretch. But things were different in the last few years when rainwater used to recede within hours. This year, the
waterlogging nightmare has come back to haunt large areas of north Kolkata, paricularly Amherst Street,
Muktarambabu Street and Sukeas Street.
“I don’t know why waterlogging has staged a comeback. This time, flooding has become worst compared to past three years,” Roychowdhury said. The banker cited the example of Thursday’s downpour that compelled him to stay at home the whole day.
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The KMC has managed the waterlogging problem pretty well in the last few years. This year, however, the city seems to have slipped. Things are not so bad as they were in the 1980s and the 1990s but the situation this year has worsened perceptibly. The KMC needs to look at the problem more seriously and take remedial steps.
The experience of Sucheta Dhar, a homemaker residing at Amherst Street, has been quite similar. “Less than 10 years ago, boats would ferry us through waterlogged streets when it rained heavily. The situation changed three years ago when rainwater started receding fast. But this year’s flooding brought back those memories,” Dhar said.
A KMC drainage department official conceded the situation has worsened this year in some central Kolkata areas. “A chocked underground sewerage line that runs through these areas and flushes out stormwater to main sewer lines on APC Roy Road could not take the load and ceased to function,” said the KMC official.
Similarly, residents of Dakshin Behala, Sarsuna, Silpara, Becharam Chatterjee Road and Parnasree faced one of the worst monsoons in recent memory as dug-up roads added to the woes for them. Silpara resident Sadhan Dutta, a physician by profession, could not open his chamber for five days stormwater inundated his chamber. MMiC Tarak Singh assured that situation will improve once the drainage upgrade project under KEIP is completed. Residents of Kidderpore and Ekbalpore are equally affected this monsoon. A KMC official said the residents would get relief next year when a massive desilting project of underground sewer lines will come to an end.
Muktarambabu Street
