Kolkata civic body drops ‘added area’ tag for fringes, ‘backward zones’ in focus – Times of India

KOLKATA: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation on Wednesday decided to shed the added areas tag for the city’s southern fringes.
After presenting a Rs 4,410 crore KMC budget for the financial year 2022-23, mayor Firhad Hakim said that the civic body will do away with the concept of ‘added areas’ to allocate funds for infrastructure development. Instead, Hakim said from now, need-based development will be encouraged instead of giving special importance to added areas.

Ever since Tollygunge was added to the KMC in the 60s, Jadavpur, Behala, the erstwhile Garden Reach municipality had been merged in KMC. The new zones were always dubbed as the added areas for decades. The last addition was in 2015 when the inclusion of Joka panchayats took the number of total KMC wards from 141 to 144. After the 60s, when the wards increased from 75 to 100, KMC wards were increased to 141 in 1984.
KMC officials said that large areas off EM Bypass are located in the city on paper but the residents don’t have access to basic amenities like water supply, drainage network or even waste disposal. A KMC official said that the stretches of Tangra, Tiljala, Topsia, Kidderpore, Ekbalpore, Bhowanipore or even the areas like Lake Gardens, Golf Green, Ranikuthi, Naktala, Baghajatin and others that fall under Tollygunge-Jadavpur belt. The areas such as Behala, Joka, Garden Reach or Mukundapur, Patuli, Garia, Nayabad – which are known as added areas so far – remained out of bounds for the infrastructure development.
Hakim on Wednesday said that some areas under KMC should be promoted from Panchayat to the municipal status.
“The maximum stress has been laid on upgrading the drainage network in the areas prone to waterlogging. We have taken up drainage upgrade plans for large parts of Nayabad, Mukundapur, Behala, Kidderpore, Ekbalpore and other low-lying areas. Heavy duty worn-out pumps at some of the city’s major drainage pumping stations like Palmarbazar drainage pumping station and Ballygunge drainage pumping station will be replaced to give more strength to these pumping stations. Similarly, the capacity of Jai Hind water treatment plant at Dhapa will be augmented to cater to the households in large parts of EM Bypass with drinking water. The capacity of Garden Reach water treatment plant is also being augmented to solve the water crisis in south Kolkata. We have tied up with a private firm to lay mastic asphalt roads in the areas where the road condition is bad,” said a KMC official.