A Source Book on Environment of Kolkata

Foreword The Historical 141 year’s old Sewerage & Drainage system in the city of Kolkata in particular & in the area of Kolkata Municipal Corporation in general, was under tremendous pressure when in the year 1984, Behala, Jadavpur and Garden Reach Municipalities were added to the existing area. In the fringed/added areas, the sewerage & drainage infrastructure became grossly inadequate, causing unplanned development.

An initiative was taken up by the Government of India in the year 1998, requesting Asian Development Bank for assistance to reverse the environment degradation in some of the India's largest cities, wherein Calcutta was identified as the most appropriate location for the project. Once identified, through various feasibility studies, Kolkata Environmental Improvement Project shaped up finally on 181,-, December, 2001 with the Loan Agreement (No.1813-IND) being signed with Asian Development Bank, which became effective from 1611, April, 2002. Of the total project cost, 64% came from Asian Development Bank, 18.5% came from Government of West Bengal and 17.5% came from Kolkata Municipal Corporation. The allotted funds were used to revamp and upgrade the Sewerage & Drainage networks mostly in the added areas of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, upgradation/modification and enhancement of capacities through refurbishment, replacement and installation of additional facilities in such networks, desilting of drainage, canals with associated rehabilitation of canal bank dwellers in new settlements, procurement of equipments for enhancing solid waste management activities of KMC, improvement of selected slums over the entire KMC core area, improvement/ beautification/rejuvenation of 16 Parks and Water Bodies in various wards of KMC, creation of green belts etc. The construction activities were designed taking into account ground realities of working in existing roads, canals, slums,' parks, public places that are congested and encroached and where there are competing users of the same place. But these challenges were met with immense support from local representatives on one hand as well as public at large on the other. The adverse environmental impacts, if created at all, at various stages of implementation of the works, were transient in nature and largely mitigated by systematic monitoring of the relevant component of environmental parameters, through a structural environmental monitoring programme. These data, which were primarily used in monitoring the implementation of the approved EMP of the project, were subsequently realised to be the treasure house of information on the environment of Kolkata. An eminent need was felt to compile such data before the closure of the current project, so that documents may be available for future references.

The Book - "A Source Book on environment of Kolkata' would not have shaped up without active support from the Municipal Commissioner of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. The credit for the excellent compilation by meticulous integration of other useful information along with the data-base on environment monitoring of Kolkata Environmental Improvement Project goes to Dr. Chinmoy Chakraborty, Environment Specialist, Design & Supervision Consultancy Group, K.E.I.P., whose efforts have borne the fruits. The readers are being offered this Source Book which has been an output of an experienced project team which has worked hard to address the ambition of the project. The project team welcomes the views/suggestions/comments/critiques for incorporation/consideration in subsequent editions of the Book which KEIP would strive to continue in the interests of the environment of Kolkata.

Preface There is hardly any published/unpublished concise but authentic account of the state of environment of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) area. The most notable effort in this direction was made by the Department of Environment, Government of West Bengal in 1996 under the project titled Calcutta Environmental Strategy and Action Plan (CEMSAP). Later in 2002, Kolkata Environmental Improvement Project (KEIP) of KMC provided a brief but useful account of the environment of Kolkata as part of the Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) report of the Project which was subsequently elaborated and updated in 2006 and 2010. During implementation of KEIP, extensive environmental monitoring was carried out over the subproject areas of KEIP and a wealth of environmental monitoring data accumulated. Most of these are now available as part of six-monthly reports on implementation of the Environment Management Plan (EMP) of the Project. As the Phase 1 of KEIP is scheduled to be completed shortly, it was thought that those data along with other published information could be collated in a single volume and published as a source book on environment of Kolkata for use by development agencies and by the research workers and hence this publication.

The bulk of this present publication represents data based on about a decade of environmental measurements and investigations by KEIP, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB), government departments, academic & research institutes and professional consulting groups. The publication is a work of reference for the student or research scientist or practicing engineer. I have chosen to lay facts as fully as space permits before intended readers which may perhaps has led to prolixity in presenting a definite picture about the environment of Kolkata. The colossal size of the task of compiling and collating the accumulated work in a relatively short time must be my plea for some of the shortcomings and omissions that seem almost inevitable in the book.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages