With Chhath Puja round the corner, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation is gearing up for the upcoming festival. Considering the forecast of rainfall from the weather office, the civic body is on ‘alert mode’ for an extended period till 10 November.

The municipal corporation has formed a dedicated team during the recent cyclone Dana. The team was composed of officials from the KMC’s drainage department, parks and square department, civil engineering department and electrical department. The dedicated team formed to handle situations of emergency, including waterlogging, uprooting of trees, power supply disruptions and so on, was earlier supposed to be active till 31 October. With a few days remaining for Chhath Puja, the civic body, however, has extended the duration of the team, which would now be on alert mode till 10 November.

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A high-level meeting of the drainage department was held at KMC headquarters yesterday to discuss the preparedness for the festival. According to sources, of the various wings of the municipal corporation, the drainage department is to be on alert round-the-clock during the upcoming festive season. Around 82 pumping stations, along with 460 suction pumps are to be kept ready for being used during the period.

Notably, the Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) sets up temporary ghats for Chhath Puja. Mayor Firhad Hakim, who is also the minister for urban development and municipal affairs department of the state, is to hold a meeting with the stakeholders soon. Like previous years, the KMDA is setting up new ghats and redeveloping a few others for Chhath Puja, which is to be observed on 7-8 November. As learnt from sources, this year the KMDA is to prepare 40 temporary ghats for the festival.