Gully pits along a stretch of Chittaranjan Avenue in central Kolkata and some roads running perpendicular to it are being cleaned in an effort to prevent a rerun of Tuesday when these areas remained waterlogged for several hours following rains.
On Thursday, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation emptied the silt accumulated inside many gully pits and manhole along CR Avenue, especially on the stretch between Colootala and MG Road.
Gully pits are situated along the edges of roads and rainwater falling on a road passes down into the underground network through these pits. But if the mouth of the pit is clogged or if the interior is clogged with silt, water from the road will enter the underground network slowly.
All these roads and neighbourhoods around them were waterlogged till evening on Tuesday though the rain stopped by 2pm. A senior KMC official said these places have been facing this problem for the last several decades.
“The objective behind cleaning the gully pits is to increase the holding capacity of the underground drainage network and to ensure smooth flow of water into the network from the roads above. We have been desilting the underground network for months. We are doing it again so that no gully pit remains clogged and blocks the flow of water,” said the official.