KOLKATA: Residents who suffered one of the worst inundations in a decade could have fared better had Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) taken up the regular desilting of sewer lines that is necessary to clear clogged drains.
KMC sewerage and drainage department officials conceded a massive desilting work that was initiated in 2015 and continued till 2019 came to a halt last year due to the pandemic. In fact, the desilting scheme had extracted 8.5 lakh tonnes of silt from across the city in five years (2015 to 2019).
“From 2010 to 2014, KMC had extracted only 1.8 lakh tonnes of silt. Extraction of record silt during 2015-19 led to an improved drainage capacity which ultimately reduced the waterlogging woes,” said Tarak Singh, a member in the KMC board of administrators (BoA) overseeing the civic body’s sewerage and drainage network.
However, the pandemic changed the course of the drive for the past two years. “We couldn’t afford to rope in our manpower or machines required to conduct a thorough desilting of our sewer and drainage lines in past two years due to the existing pandemic. Otherwise, there could have some relief from inundation in various pockets of the city,” said a KMC drainage department official.
In fact, sources in the KMC headquarters maintained that most of trained members of a central manual sewer cleaning gang had gone back to their families in Bihar, Jharkhand and Odisha last year after a complete lockdown was declared across the country.
“This 250-member strong gang assists our department in locating clogged sewer and drainage lines and accordingly we take up extensive desilting progammes at the onset of winter so that we can give relief to residents during monsoon. However, without the help of this gang, the desilting programme took a backseat,” the civic official said.
This gang apart, the KMC drainage department has 450 drainage department labourers in 10 boroughs who often assist in cleaning of manholes. These labourers couldn’t be roped in during the peak of the pandemic, said a civic official.
“Besides, without the help of trained manpower, the civic body couldn’t press into service effective machines like jetting cum suction, gully-pit emptier and bucket machines, among others, which would have given relief to citizens even after heavy showers,” said a KMC drainage department official.
The KMC official expressed concern over the heavily clogged canals that bear the load of city’s storm water. “We have a 134-km long canal network that is being shared jointly by KMC and adjoining municipalities and municipal corporations like BMC, south Dum Dum and Rajpur-Sonarpur, among others. Once the rain becomes heavy and uniform, the canals fail to bear the load,” the civic official said.
