Residents of Behala may have to put up with waterlogging for some more time than they had expected.
Civic engineers have sought four months of traffic clearance to complete laying underground drainage pipes between No. 14 bus stand and Manton, along Diamond Harbour Road, in Behala. But police have said the work cannot stretch into the festival season beginning October.
After a recent inspection of the area, one of the more congested stretches in Behala, police officers have told officials of the Kolkata Environmental Improvement Investment Programme (KEIIP) that a two-month window beginning August can at best be offered for the work.
KEIIP is the implementing agency of the pipe-laying project, which is expected to reduce waterlogging.
A KEIIP official said pipe-laying work would not be over in two months. “If we don’t get four months, work will remain incomplete and resume after the festive season,” he said.
Diamond Harbour Road is especially congested in this part of Behala, which has a tram depot, an autorickshaw stand and a market. The road space has shrunk because of the construction of the Joka-Taratala Metro viaduct.
“DH Road is the main thoroughfare for all heavy vehicles headed south from Kolkata. Allowing any excavation or tunnelling activity here would mean keeping alternative roads free for vehicles to move smoothly. But pipeline work is going on even along those roads,” said a senior police officer overseeing traffic.
Senior KEIIP officials said work of laying underground drainage pipes is going on along stretches of James Long Sarani, which runs parallel to DH Road, and on stretches of MG Road and ML Gupta Road, which extends up to Haridevpur.
“A drainage pumping station has been inaugurated to reduce waterlogging in two wards in Behala — 123 and 124. But the problem persists in several other pockets of Behala,” said an engineer in the sewerage and drainage department of the KMC.
“Underground pipes will be laid to address the problem in those pockets.”
Over the years, waterlogging has emerged as a major problems in many pockets of Behala, including Shakuntala Park, Parnasree, Jadu Colony, Manton, Shakerbazar and Barisha. The drainage pumping station operational in Behala pumps out rainwater into the Chorial canal through a network of pipes. From the canal, the water flows into the Hooghly.
“The pipes are being laid under some of the most congested localities to ensure that rainwater doesn’t accumulate there,” the engineer said.
Police officers said Behala remains a big draw among Puja revellers and any work of laying underground pipes after September can’t be allowed.
“We are fine till September for underground pipe-laying work, but not thereafter. The roads will be too crowded in October,” the police officer said.
