The stretch of the Bagjola canal between BT Road in Kamarhati and VIP Road will be cleared of garbage and silt to increase its capacity.

“We will take up the work of desiltation of the canal shortly after the removal of the garbage,” Saumen Mahapatra, the minister in charge of irrigation and waterways department, told Metro. “An estimate for the expenses has been drawn up and the basics of the work are being finalised.”

The 38km-long Bagjola canal carries water from BT Road in Kamarhati in the west to the Bidyadhari river in the east, cutting through parts of Baranagar, Dum Dum, Lake Town and New Town.

To ensure better management, the irrigation department has split the canal into two halves — the 9.23km upper Bagjola canal, from the origin till VIP Road, and the 28.8km lower Bagjola canal, from VIP Road till the Bidhyadhari.

Officials said the last thorough desiltation of the canal was done ahead of the 2017 monsoon. Over the next few years, maintenance was restricted only to parts that had accumulated lots of garbage.

“Around 1.2m-high silt gets deposited on the bed of the canal every four years,” said an official of the irrigation and waterways department. “In 2017, we had built four vents so that the water would pass through a total of 10 vents. But indiscriminate dumping of garbage has left a toll on the capacity of the canal.”

Engineers of the department said the upper part of the canal had become a garbage dumping ground.

“Several of the agencies engaged to clear garbage have not done their job,” Mahapatra said.