Kolkata Pest Control

KOLKATA: Kolkata Municipal Corporation roads and civil engineering department is battling an unlikely foe. The department has been struggling to repair roads damaged by rodents. Large parts of central and north Kolkata have been affected by rodents, but residents living in the Amherst street and Baithakkhana market area are the worst sufferers.

A visit to Guruprasad Chowdhury lane off Amherst Street and Sankar Ghosh Lane adjacent to Vidyasagar College (for women) on Wednesday revealed that these areas are infested with large rats, which dig holes into the lanes and damage the foundation of the houses.

Rat Damage in Guruprasad Chowdhury lane of Amherst Street Kolkata by Kolkala Municipal Corporation (Posted on Times of India)

A poor garbage disposal system has much to do with the rat menace, complained Saswata Pal, a resident of Sankar Ghosh Lane. Some residents have put up notices requesting neighbours not to dump garbage there, which the rodents feed on. A century-old building on Guruprasad Chowdhury Lane, Amulya Niketan, is under threat from the rats, which have also damaged a specially designed three-storeyed building beside Amulya Niketan. Sanjukta Sen, one of the residents, said that the rat menace was growing by the day. We have been suffering due to the practice of throwing left-overs on the roads. We have asked our neighbours to stop throwing garbage on the road, but all appeals have fallen on deaf ears,” Sen alleged. Atin Ghosh, member, mayor-in-council overseeing the KMC civil engineering department said the civic body was trying to take up a befitting method to eliminate the menace. We need to undertake a survey to find out the damage and the routes of the rats. The solution will follow, Ghosh said.