Smart rains lash city; KMC clears waterlogging in record time
KOLKATA: The drainage infrastructure developed by Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) in the last few years proved effective once again on Tuesday with water draining out in quick time from the waterlogged areas in the city, after a smart shower lashed Kolkata on Tuesday afternoon.
The Regional Meteorological Centre in Alipore on Monday predicted that Kolkata and other South Bengal districts would receive heavy rainfall and the temperature would also go down. As per the prediction, spells of heavy rainfall lashed several parts of Kolkata and other adjoining districts on Tuesday afternoon bringing some sort of relief to the people from sultry and discomfort weather. The highest rainfall in the city was recorded from Thanthania in North Kolkata with 65 mm rainfall followed by Palmer Bridge near Sealdah with 56 mm rainfall.
Manikatala witnessed 50 mm while Belganchia had 42 mm. South Kolkata received lesser rainfall in comparison to North and East Kolkata with Ballygunge recording the highest rainfall of 30 mm. Chingrighata on EM Bypass received 35.5 mm rain which is also on the higher side.
The crux of the rainfall was between 12.30 to 1.30 in the afternoon. Within an hour the lockgates had to be closed due to high tide in the river. So the accumulated water could not drain out completely within that time.
College Street, Thanthania, Ganesh Chandra Avenue, Amherst Street, Muktaram Babu Street, Keshab Chandra Sen Street remained waterlogged till evening .
“From 2015 till date we have desilted over 11 lakh cubic feet of silt from the drains in the city . Major portion of the city has already witnessed this exercise. We have found that in those areas where desiltation has been done 15 mm water drains out in an hour . Besides, 400 out of 408 pumps in 76 drainage pumping stations are pressed into operation for rapidly draining of water,” Member Mayor-inCouncil (Sewerage and Drainage), Tarak Singh said.
In 2015, the number of breakdown pumps were 110 but presently only eight pumps are kept as stand by and all pumping stations maintain minimum water level throughout that ensures maximum drainage capacity. At least 65 per cent of water in Kolkata including the whole of north and central and parts of south drains through Bidyadhari canal while the rest 35 per cent through Hooghly.