Behala locals fear water-borne diseases

KOLKATA: Living with filthy rainwater at their doorstep and the muck all around, residents of Thakurpukur are facing other water-borne evils too — snake bites, rashes and diarrhoea.
On Monday, Green Park resident Sadhan Roy was seen wading through the knee-deep rainwater with his infant. “I had taken him to hospital. He has diahrrea,” Roy said. “The situation here is no better than the districts.We don’t know when life will return to normal,” he added.
Ward 125 councillor Ghanasree Bag distributed relief packets to the affected families — one kg rice, 200 gm dal, 250gm puffed rice, 50gm jaggery, a packet of biscuits and two drinking water pouches. People stuck in apartments, however, said instead of the packages, the civic bosses should spread disinfectants to prevent an outbreak of water-borne diseases.
Urmila Kirtania is worried about her ailing husband. “The water is waist-deep and I can’t go to the pharmacy. On Monday, civic officials handed us relief packets. I told them that we don’t want them. We want immediate steps to flush out the water,” Kirtania said.
“We are using portable submersible pumps to flush out the water. But they are of little use. The adjoining Charial Khal can’t draw the water. There is also a backflow during high tide on the Ganga. I hope things will improve in a day or two,” Bag said.
According to KMC, about 1,000 residents in the two localities are marooned. Two families have been shifted to the nearby school.
Kolkata Police special officer Pradip Mukherjee can’t start for office in uniform. “I carry them to my office and change there. I have to walk all the way from Sarada Park, pushing my motorbike in knee-deep water till I reach Diamond Harbour Road. I can start my motorbike there. Reaching office I change my dress and chappals,” Mukherjee said.
Local auto-rickshaw operator Bhairab Bhattacharya has stopped ferrying passengers from Thakurpukur. Instead, he has to carry his son to school since he is too small to handle the water.
Chintu Shaw recounted how these localities had gone under water in 2003 and 2007. “The flooding has become chronic in these areas. There is something wrong with these places. KMC should think of a permanent solution,” the Thakurpukur resident said.
“Most of these localities were low lying areas. People filled up the waterbodies and started selling out plots. The areas saw a splurge in construction activities without any proper drainage network. What you see today is a result of the unplanned growth,” a civic officer said.