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A major part of Behala will not receive water on Saturday. The reason: The water supply line at the crossing of Banamali Naskar road and Diamond Harbour road has been damaged during drainage and sewerage upgradation work carried out by the Kolkata Environment Improvement Project (KEIP).
Local councillors blamed the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) alleging that the crisis deepened due to its inaction since the civic body took 30 hours to respond to the problem.
Saturday’s crisis will affect around 10,000 people living in Wards 129, 130, 131 and 132. Other than the incident in Behala, the drainage upgradation project carried out by the KEIP has triggered several damages in the main water supply lines. The damage of water supply line at Ward 101 in Baghajatin has resulted in contamination of water.
To carry out the drainage repair work, the KEIP is supposed to either ask the KMC for the network map of drinking water pipeline or conduct a local survey to track down the location of the network. The KEIP, however, did not opt for any of the options.
“There was no water supply in several wards after the pipe got damaged. We had also asked the water supply department to take prompt action to repair the pipelines but to no avail. The pipeline was damaged on Thursday evening. However, the KMC started its wok today. The area has gone under knee-deep water and it will take a day to restore the pipelines,” said Sovan Chatterjee, councillor, Ward 132.
Meanwhile, the KEIP has admitted that the water pipeline was damaged during the drainage upgradation work.
“We conducted a survey of the distribution of the water pipelines in the area. But the distribution lines are very complicated. In the course of the work, somehow, the water pipeline was damaged. We are trying our level best to restore the condition, though it will take some time. The area will be affected, as it has been completely flooded,” said a senior KEIP official.
The member mayor-in-council, water supply, Mrinal Mondal expressed his unhappiness with the way the KEIP is carrying out its work.
“In every place, the KEIP is executing the projects, it damages water pipelines. In Behala, it has damaged the main line of the water supply. The condition is serious now. Even though, the civic engineers have started the repairing work, but it may take 2 to 3 days for restoring the water supply to the area,” said Mondal.
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