The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Tuesday removed a portion of the waste that had accumulated along the railway tracks near the Tollygunge Railway Overbridge and turned into a potential mosquito-breeding ground.
The solid waste that was removed weighed close to 10 tonnes, a KMC official said. It had almost blocked the footpath, forcing pedestrians to walk on the road.
But a large volume of solid waste was still lying on a vacant plot along the tracks, which is under the custody of the railways.
The Telegraph reported on Tuesday that mayor Firhad Hakim had written to the divisional railway manager of the Sealdah division pointing out that piles of garbage had accumulated on both sides of the bridge.
Hakim’s letter also mentioned that the KMC’s health workers had found mosquito larvae in the containers found in the waste.
Accumulated solid waste is a potential source of outbreak of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue, especially during the monsoon.
Though the railways is the custodian of the plot, the civic body removed the waste to eliminate potential mosquito-breeding sites, said a KMC official.
“We removed the waste that had spilled on the footpath. The railways has to clean up the plot and erect a wall around it,” the official said.
Multiple calls and text messages from this newspaper to Deepak Nigam, divisional railway manager of Sealdah, went unanswered.
“The DRM is apprised of the matter. He will send a reply to the mayor as soon as possible,” an official in the DRM office said on Tuesday. When asked about the on-ground action, the official said: “All the details will be written in the letter."
An official in the medical department of the Sealdah division said: “There are health inspectors who are responsible for the maintenance of railway colonies and other railway infrastructure in the division. But I have to check whether the responsibility of the specific spot (near the railway overbridge) is entrusted to us. If so, we will definitely take note and ensure it is maintained properly in the future.”
Kausik Ghosh, chief public relations officer of Eastern Railway, the zone the Sealdah division is a part of, told this newspaper: “We will work in coordination with all the government agencies as and when required. People’s safety is paramount.”
On the same day, Metro Railway shared pictures of a drive to prevent dengue and malaria. “Our workers are ensuring that rainwater does not get accumulated on the Metro premises. The drains along the Metro tracks are also being cleaned regularly. The central drain inside the tunnel is kept clean so water flows out smoothly. Larvicide is being sprayed on different station premises, in drains and inside the tunnels, among other places,” said an official.