KOLKATA: A new drainage system and pumping station will be inaugurated on the Bangur-Lake Town link road on Saturday. The pumping station, set up by South Dum Dum municipality, will help minimise waterlogging in large areas of Lake Town and Bangur, benefiting over 52,000 residents of the area.
Officials said that the pumping station with a capacity of 0.3 cubic metre per second or alternatively 1,080 cubic metre per hour will cater to an area of about 85,000 square metres covering Lake Town and Bangur which often get flooded during heavy rain.
People living in Bangur Avenue, though, said instances of waterlogging in the area has come down in last few years, apparently due to the ban on use of plastic which was initiated by the then local councillor Mriganka Bhattacharya in 2007-08. Even last year when several pockets of the city, including adjacent Lake Town, Salt Lake and New Town, were heavily flooded following the very heavy rain, there was only ankle deep water in some Bangur areas. Locals said that the new pumping station will further help prevent waterlogging in the area.
At New Town, opposite City Centre II mall near Chinar Park crossing, work of setting up a 1,600-cubic metre per hour capacity drainage pumping station is almost complete and it’s ready for launch. Hidco and NKDA officials recently visited the pumping station to inspect how the pumping station was functioning. The service road stretch at Haldiram junction on VIP Road, including the stretch from Haldiram leading to Chinar Park crossing in New Town, get waterlogged during downpour. Officials said this pumping station would help minimise recurrence of waterlogging to a large extent.
Hidco has recently laid foundation stones for three drainage pumping stations adjacent to the link canals in New Town. This will benefit a huge area of Action Area III having a population of over 2.8 lakh as the pumping stations will have a capacity to drain out 723 cusecs excess storm water. After last year’s deluge, civic bodies like Bidhannagar, South Dum Dum and state authorities assessed the situation to come out with solutions.
