KMC watch on 120 flooding zones after police letter

KOLKATA: Kolkata Traffic Police has submitted a list of 120 waterlogging-prone pockets to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) urging the civic brass to concentrate on them during monsoon to keep the traffic moving.
Some of these stretches are traditional waterlogging-prone areas.
The KMC sewerage and drainage department bosses have asked borough executive engineers to start taking adequate measures to reduce severe waterlogging in areas that have been listed as the trouble-pockets. These traditional waterlogging pockets include Thanthania, Amherst Street, M G Road, College Street, Camac Street, Park Circus, Ramesh Mitra Road (Bhowanipore) Alipore Park Road, Raja Santosh Road, New Alipore, Lake Gardens, Jodhpur Park and Golf Green.
However, both mayor Firhad Hakim and the member, mayor-in-council overseeing the KMC sewerage and drainage department Tarak Singh have assured that unless it rains heavily, the KMC drainage department will be able to drain out storm water within a couple of hours. "There are some traditional waterlogging pockets in the city which are being taken care of. Our team of officials and trained workers are working overtime to ensure that residents of the city's worst waterlogging pockets do not get locked at home for hours after a spell of heavy rain," said Hakim.
According to Singh, KMC has a capacity to drain out 10mm rain in an hour and if it rains beyond the civic body's capacity, the storm water will take longer hours to recede.
Singh on Thursday held a meeting with state irrigation department officials to ensure that the dredging of several major canals like Bagjola, Kestopur, Beghor, Manikhali, Tolly's Nullah, intercepting canal are completed in a war-footing to prevent inundation of low-lying zones under their catchment areas. The KMC drainage department officials, however, expressed their worries over rampant encroachment of several drainage outfall canals.
Meanwhile, Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been conducting a pre-monsoon drive to clean up the gully pits and clogged underground drainage lines.
BMC MMiC (waste management and drainage) Debraj Chakraborty said that all pre-monsoon measures were being taken across Salt Lake and Rajarhat-Gopalpur.
The authorities are also working on upgrading the drainage pumping stations across Salt Lake, replacing the old pumps with new high-power ones.