The city of Kolkata is a congested metropolis, spaced out on a saucer-like expanse. The city follows a gradual slope from the eastern flank of Hooghly river, which continues through the city and beyond until the gradient increases again up to the banks of Vidyadhari river in the Sunderbans.
This means that should it rain heavily, Kolkata will be a natural accumulator of rainwater, which has to be pumped out to keep the city free from heavy waterlogging. The city’s keepers seem to be severely handicapped from understanding the gravity of the situation. If it rains here like it did in Mumbai last month and last year, Kolkata will be completely deluged. The Telegraph has recently presented a waterlogging log, according to which a mere 80 mm downfall in half an hour will result in over 3 to 4 hours of waterlogging in many supposedly high-level areas, namely Ballygunge Phari, Harish Mukherjee Road, CR Avenue – Mahajati Sadan, Golf Green and so on.
Kolkata floats after a short spell.
Picture sourced from : http://www.math.dartmouth.edu/.
The city’s mayor, a learned practitioner of law, winning last year’s elections with much fanfare, looks a total misfit in the seat he occupies. There has been no concerted attempts to repair storm-water drainage and brick sewers, some of which are centuries-old. Kolkattans have had a fright last week when rainwater accumulated after a few bouts of shower. That the spell did not continue for long was a huge relief.
The present mayor presents a good example of how a famous lawyer (or, for that matter, a famous ‘anything’) cannot be expected to automatically become a good civic administrator. I keep my fingers crossed hoping that better sense prevails upon him sooner than he feels necessary.
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