Serpent of the City

After much thought to infrastructure, public health was given top priority by both the imperial government and the municipal administrators during the urban expansion of Calcutta. As a result, administrators in the 1830’s  sought to shape the colonial capital city into a “sanitary city ” by invoking theories of hygiene and sanitation on the one hand and of civilization and improvement on the other.

In 1832, a considerable sum of money (Rs 3341.8) was spent on drainage in parts of the city connecting the neighborhoods of Bowbazar, Durrumtollah , Cositollah, and Wellington Square. Governor General Auckland established the general committee of fever hospitals and municipal improvements in 1838 to further enhance hygienic conditions and public health. Dr. Martin, a surgeon at the local hospital in Durrumtollah, was the driving factor behind this significant accomplishment. The committee sought advice from prominent Bengalis such Raja Kali Krishna Bahadur, Dr. Madhusundar Gupto, and Dwaraka Nath Tagore. The city’s requirements and the conditions at the time were carefully examined by the fever hospital committee and came to the swift decision that an underground drainage system was the only workable solution. Most of the committee’s expert witnesses agreed but there was a hunch that a constant flow of water through the sewers, unless mechanically pumped (at too high a cost), would make a sewerage system ineffective and far too dangerous to fix. There were several plans put forth, but the committee chose to investigate the Captain Forbes Scheme. He advised making salt lakes a crucial component of the city’s drainage system and to build an aqueduct made of stone that would connect the Hooghly under the Old Chitpur Bridge to the Old Park Street Cemetery and the Salt Lakes using a large, open canal that would run nearly parallel to the Entally Canal. Besides drainage, it was believed that the proposed canal would also provide a cheap and simpler form of navigation and a source of income for the community.

Many recommendations over the years failed to materialize due to a lack of  institutional support. Surface sewers were installed across Kolkata by 1857, but the hygiene and sanitation concerns in the city were only growing. A “combined system” for the removal of both storm water and sewerage, or “dry weather flow” was created. The system’s foundation was first suggested in 1855 and approved in 1859 with construction taking place between 1860 and 1875. Under the city’s main streets, a large, 8 feet tall by 6 feet wide sewer was built that connected to smaller subterranean cross sewers. It was designed by William Clark, the East India Company’s former head engineer.  It took 16 years to complete Clarke’s model and the result was a series of pipe sewers (4.8 km in brick and 59.2 km in stone). 

In the early 20th century the Suburban Improvement Committee wanted to extend the drainage and sewerage to the suburbs and appointed chief engineer Mr. J. Kimber.  In 1909 a combined sewerage system was designed for the Kidderpore and dock areas.  

Over the years, several changes were made to tackle the crisis which emerged with the deterioration and over silting of the Bidyadhari River (which was kept for the outfall and lost its significance due to the declining condition of the Yamuna River which fed it). Alternative paths were created under the leadership of Dr. B.N. De, a distinguished engineer from the Calcutta Corporation, towards Kulti Gunge under the renowned Kulti Outfall Scheme. This scheme not only improved the productivity of the system as a whole but also distributed the outfall systematically.