Kolkata: In the wake of repeated fire incidents in the city, and especially after the Burrabazar fire incident, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has identified 92 deep tube wells that will be accessed and used by the fire brigade as waterspouts to douse flames.

The initiative to conduct a survey to find the existing deep tube wells was taken up by the KMC sewerage and drainage department after a section of the Orphangunge Market traders alleged that the fire brigade couldn't access water from local sources during a devastating fire at the Kidderpore market. In fact, a section of the civic officials later found that the fire brigade was not aware of the presence of a tube well near the market, which could have been utilised as a source of water."Taking a lesson from the recent fire incidents, we started a survey of ward-wise locations of our existing tube wells. We wrapped up our survey and found 92 tube wells across 144 wards. The list of these waterspouts will be handed over to the fire brigade officials so that they can access these waterspouts to douse flames," said a KMC official. The sewerage and drainage department will now hand over the list to the civic body's water supply department so that the latter can check out the condition of tube wells and come up with a list of waterspouts that are still functional.

Member, mayor-in-council overseeing the KMC sewerage and drainage department, Tarak Singh shared the details of the survey with the members of the state fire task force at a meeting held at the civic headquarters earlier this week. Mayor Firhad Hakim, who is the chairman of the task force, asked civic officials to monitor the functionality of these tube wells and share information with the fire officials.

According to a KMC water supply department official, the majority of the tube wells can be made functional and used as waterspouts.

"We have a list of tube wells that were installed in market areas with a view to sourcing water for firefighting. Some others are near the water booster pumping stations. We will need to visit these places and check the efficacy of these tube wells. We may revive some of them if they have not been used for several years," said the civic official.According to a civic official, first, all waterspouts located close to major city markets will be checked. "We will need to visit old, fire-prone markets, like Hatibagan, Maniktala, Sealdah Koley Market, New Market, Lansdowne, and Jadubabur Bazar, among others, to oversee the firefighting arrangements. If we find a waterspout, we will revive it," said a civic official.