KMC launches Ganga awareness drive
The Kolkata Municipal Corporation launched an awareness drive to keep the Ganges clean. Mayor Firhad Hakim today kicked off the Ganga Utsav drive urging citizens to keep the river clean.
The Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority would now be responsible for the upkeep of a part of Mahananda river. The KMDA has undertaken the responsibility of six kilometres of the Mahananda that was faced with an obstruction for the past several years.
According to sources, a stretch of around six kilometres was posing a hurdle on the path of a crucial drainage project in Siliguri. To address the issue, a high-level meeting was held between KMC mayor and minister of urban development and municipal affairs department Firhad Hakim and mayor of Siliguri mayor Goutam Deb at the KMC headquarters, earlier this week. As informed by Mr Hakim, the state irrigation department is carrying out a crucial project of drainage with the Siliguri Municipal Corporation. The project includes the works of laying out pipelines along the identified six kilometres stretch on the banks of the Mahananda. “The state irrigation department, however, had reservations about the plans of laying the pipelines through the six kilometre stretch,” informed the KMC mayor.
On the other hand, the Siliguri civic body had no other options than taking the pipelines through the stretch, informed Mr Hakim. “In the past two to three years, tendering was done several times but the process was getting stuck from the technical aspects,” added Mr Hakim. The project on the mighty river was thus getting delayed due to the hurdles.
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A consensus was reached during the meeting held this week in which the responsibility was accepted by the KMDA for the upkeep of the identified stretch. The KMDA would now carry out the task of restoration and maintenance of the six kilometre stretch for the next five years. As informed by the mayor of KMC, the project is expected to be done at the cost of around 255 crore.
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