KOLKATA: Thousands of people living in east of EM Bypass, such as Mukundapur, Nayabad, Panchasayar, Madurdaha and parts of Patuli, would continue to face waterlogging misery every monsoon unless a drainage upgrade plan was implemented without delay, experts said.
A drainage network, which was planned for the flooded zone in the area off Bypass under Kolkata Environment Improvement and Infrastructure Project (KEIIP), was ultimately implemented in another belt near Garia, leaving vast areas between Nayabad and Chowbhaga vulnerable to waterlogging every monsoon. KMC drainage department officials said these areas developed on the wetlands could be saved only if and when a drainage infrastructure was created. Town planners pointed out rampant filling up of ponds and wetlands in the belt, unplanned development, inadequate focus on infrastructure and slack maintenance were the reasons for this flooding.
According to a KMC sewerage and drainage department official, not only underground drainage network but surface drains are also absent in large areas there. “Storm water flows down and gets accumulated in vacant or low-lying places. There is no drainage network in large areas along this belt,” said the civic official. “Portable pumps appear to be the only way out that the civic body uses to flush water out of Mukundapur, Madurdaha and Panchasayar after heavy spells of rain.” Following the nightlong torrential rain on Sunday and again on Monday, people in the area were marooned at home for three days for this lack of infrastructure.
A KMC drainage department official, who was confined to his Mukundapur Main Road home, pointed out they would face such waterlogging in three more monsoons as the KEIIP scheme, if implemented, was not likely to be completed before that.
Even in areas like Anandapur, Kasba, Garfa, Patuli, Topsia and Beliaghata, where there are drainage lines, clogged canals do not allow the water to flow out. Town Head Cut canal, Suburban Head Cut canal and Tollygunge-Panchannagram canal were heavily clogged, said a KMC drainage official.
