Water pipe shift throws up challenge for Kolkata civic body

KOLKATA: A team of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) water supply department engineers and skilled labourers is all geared up to shift a 3ft underground water pipe for the piling work needed to reconstruct the Majerhat bridge.
After repeated requests to the civic headquarters from the state PWD, the implementing agency for the bridge reconstruction, the water supply department decided to partially shut down Garden Reach water treatment plant for the shifting work.
A senior official in the water supply department on Monday said that shifting the pipeline is a challenging task for the civic team, which needs to go 8ft-10ft underground to cut a portion of the existing pipe and then attach it with a new pipe.
Besides, the KMC engineers will also have to face another challenge — dewatering the pipe before shifting it. A KMC engineer said that even if the Garden Reach plant is partially shut down on Wednesday morning after supplying water to large parts of south Kolkata, it will not be easy for them to empty out the huge volume of residual water from the main pipe.
“We need to dewater the main pipe in several places from Garden Reach to Taratala and ensure that the residual water does not get stagnant at Taratala. If we can ensure this, half of the work will be done,” said a water supply department official.
A civic official said that the KMC team will have to do the work on a war-footing since the water supply department has a 20-hour deadline to resume supply.
“Our team will be ready from early morning. Once the Garden Reach water treatment plant is shut down and the process of dewatering the pipe gets over, our skilled workers will go underground, cut a large portion of the pipe, shift it 40ft to the right and attach it to a new pipe. Since the work needs to be done without wasting time, every minute counts,” added the official.
The civic water supply department officials will start digging a well from Tuesday for its skilled members to reach to the main pipe and shift it on Wednesday.
“We have formed a team of 50 engineers and skil-led workers to carry out the job,” said a senior official of the civic body.