Kolkata, Sep 23 (IANS): Incessant rain leading to waterlogging might have added to the woes of the people of Kolkata, but it gave a rare opportunity to the people of New Town to fish on the streets of the satellite town!
People with fishing nets fished all night, some even catching more than five to six kg of 'Katla' (Carp).
The incident came to light after Piu Mondal took to Facebook to share a video on Wednesday where a man could be seen catching fish with a net. The video has since gone viral with over 84,000 views and more than 2,500 shares. According to Mondal, she was on her way to buy food on Tuesday evening when she first noticed the incident.
"There were fish all over on the road. People were moving with fishing nets. I couldn't believe that people were catching fish in front of the Axis Mall and the Karigori Bhwwan (the state headquarters of commerce and industry). Me, my brother and my uncle too caught fish till 4 am. We walked from the Karigori Bhwan to the Axis Mall (a stretch of nearly 2 km) to catch fish. We caught more than 15 kg of Katla," Mondal wrote on her Facebook page.
When asked about the presence of fish on the streets of New Town, a senior official of the state fisheries department said, "There are many fisheries in and around the New Town area and all of them got flooded because of the heavy downpour. People try to prevent the fish from swimming out of the fisheries by putting nets, but the embankments are so huge that it is impossible to cordon off the entire area."
"Not only that, the Bagjola canal that is flowing through New Town also got flooded and this is the reason that there were so many fish on the roads of the city. This has hardly happened before," the official added.
Following several hours of heavy rainfall, extreme waterlogging has been reported from several parts of Kolkata and its adjoining areas like North and South 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, and East Medinipur.
Several people took to social media to share photos and videos of the waterlogging, in which people could be seen swimming in waist-deep water, or travelling in boats to their offices.