These waterways, originally built to help disperse rainwater, have sadly become little more than sewage canals and dumping grounds for garbage. Yet, whenever Kolkata receives heavy rain and parts of the city flood, citizens are quick to complain about the problem.
But how can we expect flooding to be prevented when we continue to choke the very waterways designed to carry away excess rainwater?
Kolkata has a comprehensive network of canals, much of it developed during the British era after careful study of the city's topography and its vulnerability to inundation. These canals were designed to channel water towards the vast natural catchment of the East Kolkata Wetlands.
Today, however, many of these vital waterways are being clogged with garbage, sewage and encroachments. It is a problem that requires both civic action and responsible citizenship. People need to understand that dumping waste into canals doesn't just make the city dirty—it directly contributes to the flooding we complain about every monsoon.
I can't help but wonder: does the Government or the Kolkata Municipal Corporation have a comprehensive plan to address and mitigate the damage being caused by this continued dumping?
Perhaps it is time we started looking at these canals not as forgotten drains, but as an essential part of Kolkata's natural infrastructure—one that needs to be protected if we want a city that can cope better with the rains.
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