Kolkata: PWD to check pipes under BT Road

KOLKATA: The state PWD is keen to check physically the underground Tallah-Palta water pipelines to prevent any leakage like the one that happened under B T Road near Tallah Bridge in April last year. The PWD issued a Rs 17.2 lakh tender last week to check the underground pipeline in a 100-metre stretch near the zone.
PWD sources said they will make a trench cut on the BT Road stretch to verify the underground pipelines.The trench cut, PWD engineers said, is a long narrow ventilation hole, which will allow them access below. The PWD officials have decided that those, who have experience in trench cutting for the last five years, will be allowed to apply for the bids. The work will start in a month, according to sources.
The Tallah Bridge demolition is likely to start in the first week of February while the construction of the proposed new bridge is likely to start in April. The trench cut verification may be done before the new bridge construction, sources said.
However, the April incident showed the complexities in dealing with water pipeline leakage below the BT Road. Several water mains under BT Road carry filtered water from the Palta water treatment plant to Tallah water reservoir and pumping stations. A KMC water supply department official said that at least five metres below the ground, four major pipelinescarry filtered water from the Palta to Tallah.
The KMC water supply team had taken several hours to repair the breach in the pipe in April last year. A trench had to be dug for workers to climb down and find the breach, which happened days after the civic body’s unsuccessful attempt to repair a water main under the Cossipore railway tracks.
While the Tallah Bridge demolition will not pose much threat to the underground pipelines, the construction of the new bridge will require a detailed mapping of the pipelines, according to sources.
“A physical verification is required and it has to be very specific,” said an official. Any breach or leakage which may require repair could lead to water crisis in various parts of north and central Kolkata, added the official.