Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will take up the desilting of an underground sewer between Moulali and Palmer Bazar that could reduce waterlogging in large parts of north and central Kolkata.
The 1.75-km sewer is among the first drainage conduits in Kolkata built by the British more than 100 years ago, an engineer of the KMC said.
Brick sewer lines under APC Road, AJC Bose Road and Lenin Sarani in north and central Kolkata were the first ones to be built. These conduits merge at the Moulali crossing, from where the 1.75-km brick sewer line takes the sewage to the Palmer Bazar drainage pumping station, which has high-powered motors to pump out water.
“The entire rainwater from north Kolkata flows to the Palmer Bazar drainage pumping station through the sewer that will be desilted,” said the engineer.
A detailed project report prepared by the KMC has estimated that Rs 140 crore will be needed for the desilting. The first tender call for the work did not elicit any response.
A second tender has been floated and bids have to be submitted by February 22.
“The contractor who will bag the project will have 36 months to complete the job,” a KMC official said.
The 20ftX25ft brick sewer that will be desilted is shaped like a kettle.
Accumulated water in Shyambazar, Girish Park, Hedua, Thanthania and other pockets of north Calcutta flow into the main brick sewer under APC Road and then to the Palmer Bazar drainage pumping station.
In central Calcutta, rainwater from all places along Lenin Sarani is drained out into the Palmer Bazar drainage pumping station.
Before desilting, the CMC will make an alternative sewer that will run parallel to the brick sewer line to be desilted.
“The brick sewer has to be blocked for the cleaning work, but an alternative sewer has to be made so that rainwater can still be drained out into the drainage pumping station. Later, the new sewer and the desilted brick sewer both will remain functional,” said a CMC official.
On Tuesday, mayor Firhad Hakim held a review meeting with officials of the CMC’s Kolkata Environmental Improvement Programme.
Officials who attended the meeting said Hakim told them to ensure that the drainage pumping stations under construction in Garia, Joka, Behala and the Alipore Bodyguard Lines are ready before this monsoon.
“The monsoon is still some months away and the drainage pumping stations will be up and running by then. We are very excited about the drainage pumping station at the Alipore Bodyguard Lines. Waterlogging in the bodyguard lines has been a decades-old problem. With the new station, we are expecting that the waterlogging will be gone,” said a CMC official.