Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) joined hands with IIT Kharagpur to develop an app that would provide information on the quantity of rain in the different wards of the civic body, and also apprise citizens of waterlogging in any area.
The app, called “weather kolkata”, will stop dependency of citizens on television or radio news to get weather updates. “This will help a person to take an alternative route as he will be able to know in advance that there is waterlogging or heavy rainfall in a certain area. For example, if a passenger landing at Kolkata Airport knows there is waterlogging in Ultadanga, he can take the EM Bypass route. We hope to make this app operational by June,” member mayor in council (MMiC) drainage Tarak Singh said.
The KMC has also started installing rain gauge machines at pumping stations across the city. “As per the disaster management policy, the Centre has instructed all states to install electronic rain gauge machines in an area of 4 sq km in all major cities for better monitoring of the city’s situation when there is heavy rainfall. Initially, we will set up such machines in 16 drainage pumping stations,” an official in the drainage department said.
Eleven such machines at pumping stations of Palmer Bazar, Ultadanga, Patuli, Joka etc have already been set up. Another five are being installed in the pumping stations of Dum Dum, Shibpur, Chowbagha, New Market and Alipore. The installation cost is around Rs 34 lakh
The KMC has plans of introducing the timing of high tide and low tide in rivers through the app with the assistance of the irrigation and waterways department.
