The New Town authorities are conducting a drive to clear gully pits and drainage channels across all three action areas.
Parts of New Town get waterlogged after rain. On Thursday afternoon, several areas had ankle-deep water after showers that were heavier than what Calcutta had received that day.
A senior official of the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) said they regularly monitor gully pits and drainage lines to keep them clear so water can flow through them easily.
Gully pits have lids with gaps through which water flows underground. It first collects in a pit and then flows into the underground sewers.
According to the official, the gully pits are regularly cleaned using emptiers, which act like giant vacuum cleaners and suck out the muck and debris that collects in the pits over time.
“We clean these pits and drainage channels regularly. This time, too, we are going to deploy gully pit emptiers to clean the drainage channels,” the official said.
Buildings are coming up across blocks in New Town. Many streets can be spotted that have construction materials like sand, cement, stone chips and bricks dumped along them.
However, according to NKDA regulations, no materials should be stacked along roads, service roads or pavements and the builders must not dump construction waste into sewage or drainage channels.
According to an NKDA official, their teams have found several drainage channels blocked by cement, sand and stone chips.
“These deposits choke the gully pits and we have also found a lot of plastic inside them. This is proving to be a challenge,” said the official.
NKDA chairman Alapan Bandyopadhay said they are focusing on regular upkeep and maintenance of the drainage network.
“The drainage channels are getting blocked occasionally because slurry from construction sites enter and block them. The channels are technologically superior to the ones in Calcutta," said Bandyopadhyay.
Movable pumps have been arranged and can be deployed to drain out water if any area gets waterlogged, he said.
