Monsoon fury; Kolkata under water of woes

Kolkata, July 4: Water of anguish and concern continued to flow for the second day today as Kolkata resembled Venice with fresh overnight showers flooding the city and boats sailing to reach succour to the affected people in several areas.

Boats reached dry food and drinking water to large parts of north Kolkata, especially in Ahmerst Steet and Sukia Street areas, as water was still flowing inside many houses and made the streets look like rivers.

Vehicles were either off the road or limped in trickles and train services continued to be affected because of massive waterlogging.

Large parts of the city remained without power following breakdown in the supply system and acute water scarcity hit the people.

Even as water started receding after overnight downpour, fresh rains since last night added to the woes of the people as a depression 150 km South-East of Kolkata in Gangetic West Bengal refused to die down.

The weather office today predicted occasional ''heavy to very heavy rain'' for the next 24 hours even though the depression was expected to move towards the North-Westerly direction.

The weatherman said an average 13 cm rainfall had been recorded in South Bengal over the past 36 hours.

While the death roll in the rains remained at ten, several local trains were cancelled and many long distance trains, including the Delh-bound Toofan Express, Howrah-Ranchi-Shatabdi Express and Jodhpur Express, were rescheduled as water overtopped railway tracks in several areas on Howrah and Sealdah sections.

All flights from the Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport, however, took off since morning, airport director V K Monga told reporters.

Resentment against the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) mounted as people called up TV channels and vent their ire.

Most of the schools and colleges remained closed for the second day today while Calcutta University deferred all its undergraduate and post graduate examinations, secheduled to be held today and tomorrow besides suspending classes.

Several colleges have also postponed their undergraduate admission procedures. Presidency College Principal Mamata Roy said, ''The admission procedures have been deferred to July 6 as many of the students could not turn up for their exams.'' Bethune College Principal Monimala Das said, ''Admission for the six streams--Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Zoology, Psychology and Economics-- have been deferred keeping in mind the unnatural weather conditions.'' The MA exams of Rabindra Bharati University have also been deferred due to incessant rains.

UNI