A part of a 5ft diameter sewer line that carries the sewage from large parts of Tollygunge has been desilted, enabling men to walk through the drain, albeit bending forward.
Officials of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) walked through the tunnel on Saturday night to inspect the outcome of the desilting work, which started a month ago.
The Telegraph accompanied the team inside the tunnel under Prince Anwar Shah Road.
Only six inches of the drain was open till a month ago. The rest was clogged with silt. On Saturday night, following the clean-up, one could see the full circular tunnel.
The stretch that has been cleaned is around 220m long and lies under Prince Anwar Shah Road, between Jogesh Chandra Chaudhuri College and the crossing leading to the Lake Gardens flyover.
The stretch is blocked on either end and the sewage is being diverted to other sections of the network.
As part of the clean-up project, 7.3km of sewer lines will be desilted. Apart from the conduit under Prince Anwar Shah Road, the sewers that will be desilted include the ones under Raja Subodh Chandra Mullick Road (between gate No. 4 of Jadavpur University and the Jadavpur police station crossing), Gariahat Road (South) (between Dhakuria and the Jadavpur police station crossing), Gobindapur Road and Prince Golam Mohammad Shah Road.
Residents of seven wards in Tollygunge and Jadavpur — 89, 92 to 96 and 105 — will benefit the most from the desilting work, said KMC sources.
“This sewer line (a strech of which has been desilted) has been functional since the late 1960s. This is the first time since it started functioning that it has been desilted. This is an important project and will reduce waterlogging in a large area once the desilting is complete,” said Tarak Singh, the mayoral council member who heads the KMC’s drainage department.
Debasish Kumar, the MLA of Rashbehari and a mayoral council member of the KMC, was part of the team that went inside the sewer on Saturday night.
“Many parts of these localities have been suffering from waterlogging for years. The desilting work will ease the problem,” Kumar said.
A KMC engineer said the sewers under Kolkata’s roads are of various shapes. The 7.3km stretch includes circular sewers and rectangular box drains.
“Right under the Jadavpur police station crossing, there is a humongous box drain spread across nearly a cottah,” said an engineer.
“It will take at least six more months for the Rs 10.67-crore project to be over. Though the entire stretch won’t be desilted before the onset of the rains this year, multiple pockets are likely to get some benefits this monsoon.”
Freshly cleaned, the 220m stretch of the sewer under Prince Anwar Shah Road lacks the usual stench. The sound of a blower, used to send cool air into the tunnel, forced everyone to speak loudly. One could spot the occasionsal toad. “We saw fish, too, inside the drain,” said Jayanta Sarkar, an employee of the agency that has bagged contract for the desilting work.