This story is from May 17, 2018

Hooghly water to keep Kestopur canal flowing

Hooghly water to keep Kestopur canal flowing
Kestopur canal is a mosquito breeding ground, making areas in and around the canal and Baguiati the worst affected by vector-borne diseases
KOLKATA: State irrigation department has started releasing water from the Chitpore lock gate on the Hooghly to flush out stagnant water in Kestopur canal and prevent it from becoming a potential mosquito breeding ground.
The Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation had asked the state irrigation department to flush out the stagnant water in Kestopur, Eastern Drainage and Bagjola canals to keep the adjacent areas in Salt Lake free from mosquitoes.

“The irrigation department has started releasing water from Chitpore Lock gate to flow through Kestopur canal. The water will then enter Bagjola canal after crossing the sluice gate near Nayapatti,” said a civic official. This as already cleared the hyacinths that occupied portions of the canal.
“Our goal is to flush out stagnant water from canals to prevent mosquito breeding. This will change the water colour as well,” said irrigation department minister Rajib Banerjee.
The civic body has been keen on keeping the canal clean this year after 12 persons from areas next to the waterbody died of dengue. The authorities have mapped the zones prone to dengue as red, green and yellow. The areas beside the Kestopur canal and Baguiati have been listed in the red zone.
In November 2017, the civic body in a report to Nabanna said that the garbage thrown into Kestopur canal had stopped the flow of water turning the waterbody into a mosquito breeding ground. The areas adjacent to the canal include — Prafulla Kanan, Kestopur, Raghunathpur and Pramodhgarh.
Salt Lake residents living beside the canal lauded the move. “This would greatly help in keeping mosquitoes at bay,” said Kaushik Dasgupta, a resident of Amartya Abason who had suffered from dengue earlier.
The civic body are releasing guppy fish in the canals and several other waterbodies in Salt Lake and Rajarhat to destroy mosquito larvae.
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