Army, NDRF, forest dept help KMC clear choked roads

Kolkata: With Army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and forest department teams by its side, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) on Saturday made significant progress in clearing city’s arterial roads by removing large trees that were uprooted by the super cyclone. The civic body claimed it was now in a position to clear all major thoroughfares by Sunday.
“We have set a target of clearing all major thoroughfares in the city by Sunday. Even then, we need to continue our work to clear some other roads in fringe areas during first half of next week,” a civic official said.
The Army on Saturday afternoon deployed five columns of the Kumaon Regiment to clear trees uprooted by cyclone Amphan that were blocking major roads in the city. The deployment followed an appeal for help from the state. Road-clearing equipment, such as payloaders and bulldozers, were requisitioned from the engineering units based at Fort William and the teams were sent to various locations in Tollygunge, Ballygunge, Rajarhat, New Town, Behala and Diamond Harbour. The government has made a similar appeal to the Railways, Kolkata Port Trust and the private sector for teams and equipment for the clean-up and restoration work.
“The Army columns were accompanied by NDRF personnel. Both Army and NDRF personnel were equipped with electric saws and chopped branches within minutes, allowing the heavier equipment to clear the mess. NDRF has been working in various parts of Kolkata for the past two days,” an officer added.
The state government on Saturday tweeted that it was mobilizing maximum strength in unified command mode on a 24X7 basis for immediate restoration of essential infrastructure and services ASAP. “Army support has been called for; NDRF and SDRF teams deployed; Rlys, Port & private sector too requested to supply teams and equipment,” the state home department tweeted, adding that generators were being hired where necessary and that more than 100 teams from multiple departments were working to remove fallen trees. “WBSEDCL & CESC asked to deploy maximal manpower, even while lockdown significantly affects the deployment potential of the latter. Police on high alert,” the tweet added.
NDRF said it was rushing 10 additional teams to Bengal for post-cyclone management following a written request from the state disaster management and civil defence principal secretary. The teams are expected to reach the city by late Saturday night. At present, 26 NDRF teams, including five in Kolkata, are deployed in cyclone-affected areas of the state. The forest department has deployed 30 teams — from Midnapur, Jhargram and Bankura — in Kolkata to clear the trees. Thirty more teams from Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar will reach Kolkata on Sunday.
The KMC parks department has roped in additional manpower from the conservancy department and workers from 100-day job scheme to remove uprooted trees from added areas like Behala, Jadavpur and Tollygunge. However, a civic official conceded that the department would need 15 days more to remove all uprooted trees from across the city.
According to a KMC official, had the civic body not faced dearth of manpower and electric saws, all trees would have been removed on the first day itself. KMC has pressed into service 17 more electric saws. “We had 50 electric saws but some proved to be non-functional. That is why we have purchased 17 more,” said a KMC parks department official.