KMC keeps pumps ready, to monitor waterlogging
Times of India | 26 September 2025The civic body held a meeting at its headquarters, where mayor Firhad Hakim asked civic officials to be prepared for rain on puja days. "We have asked our executive engineers, in charge of drainage pumping stations, to keep all heavy-duty pumps ready to be able to flush out storm water in case it rains heavily during the pujas. Officials will be on duty on festive days," said a senior official.
The drainage department will also engage manual sewer cleaning gangs who will be roped in to drain out water from neighbourhoods, especially the waterlogging-prone areas, in case of a downpour.
The KMC is keeping 500-odd portable pumps ready for areas, such as Garden Reach, Behala, Garia and places off EM Bypass, that lack an underground sewage network. Apart from KMC-added areas, the pumps will be placed in the city's low-lying areas, too.
The KMC drainage department will also deploy jetting-cum-suction machines to flush out storm water if need be.
The MMiC, overseeing the sewerage and drainage department, Tarak Singh, said adequate arrangements were being made to ensure storm water was flushed out fast, especially from roads close to crowd-pulling pandals in case it poured during the pujas.
"Besides keeping a special gang ready at the major drainage pumping stations, our senior officials will monitor the waterlogging scenario from the KMC headquarters control room in the event of heavy rain," said Singh.
But KMC drainage department officials are worried about some low-lying areas, where a drainage upgrade project is underway. "We are concerned about some stretches of Garden Reach, Behala, Garia, Bansdroni and areas off EM Bypass. We have asked our executive engineers in boroughs to keep portable pumps ready," said a KMC official.
