The low-lying areas of Durgapur have been inundated due to heavy rainfall, and the district magistrate of West Burdwan, S. Ponnambalam, has directed the civil administration to relocate marooned people to safer areas. Since last evening, incessant rainfall has caused severe waterlogging in the low-lying areas of Durgapur as the drainage system has failed to cope with the heavy rainfall.
Water is also flowing from the Tamla rivulet. A portion of Vidyasagar Pally under ward number 20 of Durgapur Municipal Corporation (DMC), is badly affected due to heavy waterlogging. Nibedita Park in ward number 24, Steel Park under ward number 26, and the low-lying areas near the Durgapur barrage are also waterlogged. Many people who have organised Lakshmi Puja today are finding it difficult to move outside due to severe waterlogging. The situation is also grim in wards number 19, 20, and 21. Wards number 13 and 14 are also waterlogged. Residents of a slum area have been provided shelter in Durgapur Government College. Sepco Township, the slum beside the government college, Anandapuri, and Srinagar Pally of Durgapur are under water. A two-wheeler was washed away in front of NIT Durgapur Road near Gandhi More.
A four-wheeler vehicle was half submerged in the water. Passengers going to Durgapur Railway Station have to cross the road from the bus stand through at least knee-deep water, carrying their shoes in hand. Anindita Mukherjee, chairperson of the Board of Administrators of Durgapur Municipal Corporation, who is currently sick and recovering from illness at home, said that the civic body is waiting for the heavy rainfall to stop. Even this morning, there has been heavy rainfall. “Unless the rainfall stops, the water level cannot recede.
The civic body has worked hard to stop waterlogging in the 54 feet area, but it seems that all efforts have failed,” she admitted. She has directed the DMC team to visit the spots and inspect the heavy waterlogging areas once the rainfall stops. Local people of Durgapur said that although the planned city set up by former chief minister Late Bidhan Chandra Roy registers the highest per capita income in the state, it lacks a modern master plan for sewerage and drainage in the city.
Although there have been many developments in the real estate sector in Durgapur, the mushrooming of construction buildings has choked the city’s old drainage system, leading to huge waterlogging during every peak monsoon. There has also been heavy rainfall in Asansol town, the district headquarters of West Burdwan, and waterlogging has taken place in low-lying areas of Railpar and Asansol Station areas under Asansol North Police Station. NDRF jawans and civil defense officials are also on alert. The Asansol Durgapur Police Commissionerate is also monitoring the situation.