Ten people were killed in torrential overnight rain — among the heaviest in four decades — which left Kolkata and adjoining districts paralysed on Tuesday, disrupting air, rail and road transport, shutting
educational institutions, and prompting the state government to advance Puja holidays. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said eight people died in Kolkata, one in Bishnupur (Amtala) and one in North 24 Parganas. Amid questions and allegations over waterlogging, Kolkata Municipal Corporation Mayor Firhad Hakim, in an exclusive conversation with News18, said that the city faced an extraordinary “near-cloudburst situation”. He admitted the corporation would have to be more cautious in the future. Edited excerpts:
What’s the situation now and why was there such severe waterlogging?
This was almost like a cloudburst — or perhaps a cloudburst. I’ve only heard about such incidents or seen them on your channels, but I never expected something like this in Kolkata. Managing nearly 300 mm of rainfall within four hours is extremely difficult. Despite this, we worked hard, and most areas have already been cleared. If there is no further rain, the remaining water will be drained soon.
The Opposition claims you failed to act properly, which led to this crisis…
I’m not interested in what the Opposition says. What about Dehradun and other cities? With the amount of rainfall we had today, no sewerage system in the world could have managed it. Our people have worked tirelessly.
The Opposition also says there was a forecast, and you should have been better prepared…
There was no forecast. But even if there had been one, this was unprecedented. There were forecasts in Dehradun and Kashmir — what happened there? These are baseless allegations. The corporation has handled the situation properly, and things are under control now. We cannot fight nature. If a tornado or earthquake strikes, what can you do? Rainfallof this scale simply cannot be controlled.
An orange alert has been issued. With Durga Puja approaching, how are you preparing?
We are on high alert. All pumping stations are fully active. We are handling the situation as it unfolds. I am not concerned about the Opposition — my concern is the people of Kolkata, and they trust us. In my 60 years, I have never seen anything like this. We must also reflect on why such cloudbursts are happening in different places. Climate and weather experts need to examine this.
Allegations have also been made against Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation Limited (CESC) that open electric wires caused deaths.
It is indeed unfortunate that lives have been lost — even in my constituency, one person died. We stand with the families of the victims.
Do you believe CESC is at fault?
We need to plan carefully in light of these changing weather patterns. We must be more cautious. The feeder system will have to be elevated to prevent such tragedies.
