A portion of the underpass across EM Bypass, at the Beleghata crossing, got flooded after Thursday’s rain and remained so for most of Friday.
Pedestrians who took the subway on Friday morning and afternoon had to either wade through ankle-deep water or go back up to cross the road.
An official of the Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), the custodian of the underpasses under the Bypass, said the waterlogging was because two pumps were not working. There are six pumps for the underpass. The water was cleared by Friday evening, the official
said.
The official said water seeps into the underpass whenever it rains. There are pumps installed in the underpass to push up the water, which is then discharged into a garden above.
A woman who wanted to take the underpass on Friday morning said she had to turn back after she saw the waterlogged stretch.
“I went out for some work, which took a few hours. When I was returning around 4pm, I tried taking the underpass again but it was still waterlogged. Both times I went back upstairs and crossed the road,” she said.
“There were many like me who did not want to walk in the water. They went up and crossed the road. Some waded through the waterlogged
floor.”
When Metro visited the underpass on Friday afternoon, several pedestrians were found wading through the water.
“The water had accumulated because two out of the six pumps kept in the subway to take out the water in case of rain were not working. We took temporary measures to pump out the water. The subway was cleared of water by Friday evening,” said the
official.
The underpass at Beleghata was opened in mid-2018.
The contract to build it was awarded in November 2016.
Though the custody of roads and culverts on EM Bypass has passed on to the Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC), the CMDA is still the custodian of the flyovers and underpasses on and under the Bypass.
There are five subways under the Bypass — at the Hyatt, Beleghata and Kalikapur crossings and two near Science City.
The CMDA official said they have proposed building two more subways — near Trinamul Bhavan and outside the Satyajit Ray Film and Television Institute.
