Kolkata: The annual waterlogging woes in Kidderpore, Ekbalpore and Mominpore are likely to end as the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is preparing to connect several inundation pockets of these areas to the newly-built drainage pumping station at Nawab Ali Park. The work is likely to begin after the completion of Lok Sabha polls. “The drainage pumping station has been planned to take care of waterlogging woes of around 2 lakh population in the Kidderpore—Ekbalpore belt,” a civic official said.
The construction of the pumping station was taken up in 2022 under instruction from mayor Firhad Hakim to save large parts of Kidderpore and its adjoining neighbourhoods from waterlogging. Though the construction work of the drainage pumping station was taken up on war footing and the station was made functional in record time, the work of connecting several waterlogging-prone neighbourhoods through an underground drainage pipe remained pending.
“When the targeted neighbourhoods will be connected to the drainage pumping station and the station starts functioning in full swing, over a lakh resident of Karl Marx Sarani, Satya Doctor Road, Sudhir Bose Road, Dent Mission Road in Kidderpore will be able to get rid of inundation every monsoon,” said a KMC sewerage and drainage department official.
However, a section of local residents has started getting waterlogging relief after completion of the drainage pumping construction.
Mohammed Aslam, a resident of Ekbalpore Lane said his neighbourhood was spared of severe waterlogging during two spells of Nor’wester on Monday and Thursday. According to a KMC official, the drainage pumping station at Nawab Ali Park has six heavy duty pumps.