The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is drawing up a plan to desilt catch pits along EM Bypass after the recent showers led to waterlogging on several stretches of the arterial thoroughfare.

A senior engineer of the KMC said there was still time to clean the pits and reduce chances of waterlogging during the monsoon.

Engineers have been asked to locate and count the catch pits, or gully pits, along the Bypass. Catch pits have lids with gaps through which water flows underground. It first collects in a pit and then flows into the underground sewers.

Effect: A waterlogged stretch of the Bypass at Ajoynagar on Friday morning. 

The cleaning is likely to begin later this week or next week.

The cleaning will be done with the help of gully pit emptier machines. The machines will suck out the slit from gully pits.

“Several stretches along the Bypass, primarily stretches of the service roads, were waterlogged during the rain last week. Stretches at Ajoynagar, near Ruby hospital, near the Avishikta housing complex and in front of Captain Bheri were flooded for long after it had stopped raining,” said the senior engineer.

“Inspections have revealed that the catch pits in some of the places are silted and require cleaning.”

A drive through the Bypass on Monday afternoon showed the lack of preparedness in dealing with the monsoon. Most of the catch pits had thick layers of dust and muck over them, blocking all the openings in the lid through which water flows down. In some places, muck and dust had accumulated surrounding the pit in such a way that they hindered the flow of water towards the pit.

EM Bypass was earlier under the custody of the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority. The custody was handed over to the KMC in November 2023. KMC engineers said there had not been any thorough cleaning of the underground sewers or the catch pits along the Bypass since then.

A stretch of the Bypass, near its intersection with Dhapa Road, was still waterlogged on Monday.

The KMC engineer said a catch pit on the Bypass in front of Captain Bheri, near Chingrighata, that is supposed to drain out the rainwater
into the bheri (fishery), was found clogged last week. Owing to the silt clogging the catch pit, the water was not flowing into the bheri and the stretch of the road was waterlogged.

The monsoon arrives in south Bengal around June 10, which means there are about 25 days between now and the arrival of the rains. There could be a few more spells
of rain in this intervening period.

“If we can start cleaning the catch pits immediately, some results will be felt during the monsoon. However, we have to take long-term measures to reduce waterlogging,” said the engineer.