Toll rises to 14 as Kolkata wilts under downpour

Kolkata, July 5 (UNI) The toll in the incessant rain in south Bengal rose to 14 as Kolkata continued to be swamped for the third day today amid the forecast of further downpours.

Even as water receded in some localities with 450 pumps working overtime, the deluge refused to leave the city as boats sailed in more areas carrying relief and more than 1,000 people were still living in camps.

With the rain playing havoc in the city, many areas remained without power following disruption in supply, while scarcity of drinking water hit the people in the worst-affected areas.

Train services continued to be affected and the movement of vehicles also remained far from normal.

Work for the Tata Motors' small car project at Singur came to a halt following massive waterlogging of the project area.

A 30-feet stretch of the boundary wall of the 997-acre site crumbled under the impact of rain water as efforts were on to resume the project work as early as possible.

Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia said altogether 14 people had died so far in the state in incidents related to the abonormal rain.

The weather office said the depression that caused the rain further advanced to Kolkata from the Bay of Bengal giving rise to the possibility of ''heavy to very heavy'' rains in south Bengal in the next 48 hours.

It said altogether 300 mm of rainfall in Kolkata and its adjoining districts had been recorded over the past 48 hours.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee held a high level meeting with several other Ministers and the city Mayor to review the situation and detail measures for reaching relief to the affected and speedy improvement of the situation.

'' All the affected districts X X X X X X Picking up from Para Three of CA 14 '' Weather-Rains-Bengal''.

UNI