The Beleghata canal, which runs from near Kolkata railway station to Chingrighata, is heavily silted but its desilting cannot be done till encroachments along its banks are cleared, senior officials of the state government said on Monday.
The 7.4-km canal would breach its banks if there is heavy rain, flooding the neighbouring areas, said officials and engineers.
The canal, which runs along Chaulpatty Road in Beleghata, Canal East Road and Canal West Road in Narkeldanga and then further west, carries the rainwater from large swathes of central and east Calcutta.
The rainwater from Beleghata, Narkeldanga, Chitpore, and places near RG Kar Hospital is drained out through this canal.
A significant reduction in its carrying capacity is leading to waterlogging in these pockets.
At a meeting held on Monday evening, chaired by mayor Firhad Hakim, officials were told to immediately start announcements along the canal banks so that people with factories, warehouses and dwelling units set up illegally on the banks could start removing the structures on their own.
The canal has not been dredged for at least a decade, barring a small portion where dredging started a few months back.
The last time it was fully dredged, the encroachments were removed and fencing was put up along the banks in many stretches.
“Monday’s meeting was primarily to discuss how the encroachments can be removed. The state irrigation department is the custodian of the canal as well as its banks, but they will need help from the police and the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) to remove the encroachers,” said an official of the CMC.
A senior police officer from Calcutta police, senior officials of the state irrigation department and the CMC held the meeting among themselves.
“The mayor told irrigation department officials to start announcements along the canal banks so that those who have encroached upon public land withdraw from there,” said a CMC official.
“The canal has not been dredged for at least a decade. For that to happen, the encroachments have to be removed,” said an official of the state irrigation department.
Anindya Routh, the councillor of Ward 13, which covers areas along the canal banks, said the water flow in the canal has almost stopped and this has turned pockets of the canal into mosquito breeding sites.
“Many people along the canal bank are suffering from malaria,” he said.
Routh also said that the dredging on a stretch of the canal, along the road leading to Ultadanga from Kolkata railway station, started a few months ago but also stopped suddenly.
“The silt picked up from the canal has been lying dumped along the canal bank for the last two months. The rain is making the road sludgy and slippery, leading to accidents. The silt is also flowing back into the canal because of the rain. This needs to be removed fast,” he told Metro.
Every canal has a design and an imaginary point up to which water can be allowed to rise in case of excessive rain.
The entire depth of the Beleghata canal, from its bed till this point is silted, said a
state irrigation department official.