Kolkata: Seven dead amid heavy rainfall, severe waterlogging

At least seven persons were killed in West Bengal’s Kolkata amid heavy overnight rainfall that has led to waterlogging in several areas on Tuesday, PTI reported.

The city has received 247.4 mm of rainfall since 8.30 am on Monday, the Regional Meteorological Centre in Kolkata said.

Kolkata Mayor and state Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim said that authorities had earlier received information about four deaths due to electrocution in different places in the city.

“But later official tallies placed the figure at seven,” PTI quoted him as saying. Most parts of the city were waterlogged and Kolkata Municipal Corporation workers were working to drain out the water, he added.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee urged citizens to stay indoors for their own safety.

“I have never seen rain like this,” PTI quoted the Trinamool Congress leader as telling a local news channel. “I feel so bad for the people who have lost their lives in the cloudburst. I heard 7–8 people have died due to electrocution by open or unattended wires.”

The chief minister said that their families must be given jobs by the Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation and claimed that it was their duty to ensure the public did not suffer because of this.

The private utility company is owned by the RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group and is the sole distributor of electricity...

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