Drinking water, electricity restored in most parts of Amphan-hit Kolkata

Drinking water and electricity have been restored in most parts of Kolkata, a week after a cyclonic storm tore through the state, decimating houses, uprooting trees and snapping power cables.

According to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) sources, the restoration work is on at a war footing and they are hopeful that all the roads will be cleared of uprooted trees by Wednesday.

Large areas of the city continue to remain without power as electric poles and communication lines had been blown away by gusting winds.

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday urged Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to update him on the situation "as expected under Constitution" and said that need of the hour is to engage in relief on the ground.

"Electricity, water and essential services be normalized urgently. Do not wish to share horrendous sufferings inputs from various parts of Kolkata and outside. This is no time to engage in tall claims Mamata Banerjee in media. Need of hour is to engage in relief on ground," Dhankhar tweeted.
 

Electricity, water and essential services be normalized urgently.

Do not wish to share horrendous sufferings inputs from various parts of Kolkata and outside.

This is no time to engage in tall claims @mamataofficial in media. Need of hour is to engage in relief on ground.(1/3)

— Governor West Bengal Jagdeep Dhankhar (@jdhankhar1) May 27, 2020

Agitators at Garia and Behala in south suburban Kolkata blocked roads with branches of uprooted trees and placed barricades to restrict the movement of vehicles to press for their demands.

"Six days have passed, but electricity is yet to return to our area. We don't know when it will return," said a resident of Garia.

There was no report of fresh protest in any part of the city on Wednesday, Kolkata Police sources said.

However, in Barasat and Duttapukur area of North 24 Parganas district, hundreds of people blocked the Jessore Road to protest against non-resumption of power by the West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Ltd (WBSEDCL), police said.

"Diabetic patients who are dependent on insulin are not being able to get their daily dosage of shots as refrigerators are not working due to no electricity," a protester said.
 

Private power utility, CESC Ltd, which supplies power to most parts of the metropolis claimed that 95 per cent of 33 lakh consumers have been reconnected to power.

"We are committed to work on a war footing to ensure normalcy. Of 33 lakh consumers, 32 lakh have been connected. Teams are working round-the-clock. You have been very patient. We seek your cooperation as we work 24/7 to restore normalcy," the CESC tweeted.

Meanwhile, there were reports of power not yet restored in some parts of the city like Behala.

A senior official of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) said, "Our job is almost complete. Now the issue of power restoration is being looked into by CESC. They have assured us that power would be restored in remaining areas soon".

In some pockets of the city, KMC personnel assisted by other agencies and a team from Odisha were busy clearing the roads even as vehicular movement resumed in most areas, the official said.

Trinamool Congress legislator Abdul Khaleque Molla and four others were injured on Tuesday while they were trying to persuade a group of people protesting over disruption of electricity. The protest was held by residents of Kanchantala under Nadial police station in the port area of the city.

Lakhs of people were rendered homeless as cyclone Amphan cut a path of destruction through half-a-dozen districts of West Bengal, including state capital Kolkata,on May 20, blowing away shanties, uprooting thousands of trees and swamping low-lying areas.