KOLKATA: A week after the deluge left city’s neighbourhoods along the eastern periphery severely inundated, many are just beginning to count the losses with the water finally receding in parts of New Town, Rajarhat, Nayabad and pockets of Narendrapur on Monday.
Cars have been the biggest casualty with several dozens living along the belt reporting snags. In Nayabad, Swapan Mondal’s brand new car had to be abandoned in water after it stopped midway. “The car lay in the water for hours till a breakdown truck came and towed it away,” the executive of a private sector company said.
Dipak Roy, an octogenarian who lives with his wife at Elita Garden Vista in New Town, is staring at a repair bill of Rs 10,000 from the workshop after his car was stuck in a foot-and-a-half deep water for three days. “The brakes are jammed. The brake oil, engine oil and filters need to be changed. The car needs to be serviced. This is a needless expense,” said Roy.
At Shukhobrishti that was waterlogged till Monday, elevators in several apartments cannot be used as water has filled the ducts. “Water needs to be pumped out and the place dried before services can be restored,” said a resident.
Manicured gardens that were the pride of many housing complexes are in a mess as are internal roads. “Repairs have to be carried out. It will be expensive and every apartment owner in the complex will have to contribute towards it,” an apartment owner at Shukhobrishti pointed out.
In many complexes in Rajarhat as well as along EM Bypass, water had inundated facilities on the ground floor, including community centres. After being under water for four-five days, furniture and electrical appliances need to be changed. In pockets of Narendrapur, families have had to move out of ground floor apartments inundated in a foot-deep water. Residents are now returning to assess the damage.
Those who reside in single-storey homes in Parnasree Subhas Marg and Nivedita Pally near Behala Flying Club and Behala’s Porui Daspara and neighbourhoods near Garia station are also faced with damages to refrigerators and furniture. Jhuma Chowdhury, who lives in Tentulberia, said: “I have been living here for 20 years. Except for once in 2012, our house has never been inundated. I don’t know how much loss I have incurred,” she said.
While most are dealing with financial loss, at Moonbeam housing complex, 65-year-old resident Fulmati Singh suffered a fracture in the arm after she slipped and fell in the parking lot that had become slippery due to water stagnation. “We had to admit her to a hospital. She will undergo a surgery on Tuesday,” said her husband Biwanath Pratap Singh.
Among the worst sufferers are guards. When the water level increased last Monday, their shelters got inundated first. “I had raised my cot by placing bricks under it. But it still suffered damage. Living in a damp room, I am also feeling feverish,” said Radheshyam Pandey, a guard.
