INTUC protests at KMC demanding Firhad Hakim's resignation for rainfall tragedies and dilapidated roads

As Kolkata teeters on the brink of its grand Durga Puja celebrations—conch shells poised and pandals half-risen—the city's streets remain scarred by tragedy and neglect, fueling a fiery protest that has turned the festive prelude into a political powder keg. Just days after a record-breaking deluge on September 23 dumped over 250 mm of rain—the heaviest in 39 years—claimed at least 10 lives, mostly from electrocutions in waterlogged lanes, the Congress-affiliated INTUC Seva Dal stormed the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) gates today, demanding Mayor Firhad Hakim's immediate resignation. Led by state president Promod Pandey, hundreds marched from Dharmatala's Peerless Hotel, banging brass plates, damrus, and dhol drums in a symbolic "awakening" for the "sleeping" administration, accusing it of criminal apathy toward crumbling footpaths, pothole-riddled roads, and unchecked encroachments.

Protesters warned that without urgent repairs, Puja pandal-hoppers could face similar fates, turning idol visits into inadvertent death traps.The downpour's devastation lingers like a bad dream amid the pre-Puja buzz. Overnight rains paralyzed the city, submerging neighborhoods from Garia to Behala, canceling 30 flights, halting trains at Howrah and Sealdah, and forcing school closures through today. Electrocutions struck without mercy—one in Gariahat, another in Beniapukur, and more across Kalighat and Khidderpore—prompting CESC to slash power in low-lying zones and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to finger-point at the utility and Damodar Valley Corporation for poor dredging.

Yet, as water recedes, the real flood of fury targets KMC's inertia. Residents wade through knee-deep slush on Rashbehari Avenue, while footpaths—meant for pedestrians—lie hijacked by vendors and illegal stalls, a scourge the Seva Dal has battled for months through "Footpath Satyagraha" and "Path Satyagraha" campaigns. For months, INTUC Seva Dal has petitioned KMC's 144 boroughs, highlighting how encroachments choke sidewalks from Park Street to Salt Lake, turning them into de facto parking lots or hawker bazaars. Post-rain, KMC and CESC have locked horns in Calcutta High Court, each shoving blame for the electrocutions—the administration for faulty infrastructure, the utility for delayed shutdowns. Banerjee's government, while announcing early Puja holidays and compensation for victims' kin, faces flak for "performative grief," as Pandey put it, accusing the CM of "dramatizing" while core issues fester. Opposition BJP, ever opportunistic, amplified the chorus online, sharing waterlogged pandal visuals with jabs at TMC's "syndicate raj."

Yet, Seva Dal's march—rooted in Congress's fading Bengal footprint—marks a rare resurgence, channeling working-class angst over jobs and safety into street theater. "We've beaten drums before colonial doors; today, it's civic somnolence," a veteran activist quipped, evoking Gandhian echoes in this digital age. Mayor Hakim, from the control room, vowed "swift action" on water pumping, but protesters dismiss it as lip service, pointing to stalled desilting and a Rs 500-crore drainage budget that's more mirage than monsoon shield. With IMD forecasting another low-pressure brew by today, the irony bites: Durga, slayer of demons, arrives to a city where civic demons—corruption, neglect—thrive unchecked. INTUC Seva Dal's satyagraha isn't just a demand for heads to roll; it's a plea to reclaim public spaces before Puja's joy drowns in despair. As evening dhak beats herald Chaturthi, the protest's embers smolder at Mayor's Gate, a microcosm of Kolkata's fractured festivity.