After moderate showers, ankle‑deep water accumulates outside the main gate of Texmaco Rail & Engineering Ltd. in Panihati, West Bengal. A visit in early September found water extending 500 metres from the gate, submerging pavements and the ground floor of a small office. Security guards wore gumboots and rolled up their pants to avoid the water. The company has shut down six units in Panihati for a month in the last two years; in mid‑August this year it closed the units again for a week after heavy rain, with the area drying in five to six days. Approximately 6,500 labourers work in Texmaco’s facilities.
Similar flooding has affected Swalka Kel Pvt. Ltd. and Jindal Group Pipe Manufacturing Plant, located a few metres away in the Nilgunj area. Shops in the Sen Bajar market near Panihati Railway Station have also closed after recent showers, with knee‑deep water lingering even as the monsoon recedes. Shop owners have set up extra tables and chairs to keep produce above the water, but many report little customer traffic when roads are waterlogged. Deepak Saha, secretary of the Sen Bajar shopowners’ association, said the waterlogging has caused severe losses and that the market association has approached the municipality multiple times without success.
Sudipta Mukherjee, managing director of Texmaco, acknowledged that even minimal rainfall can suspend work for weeks. He noted that the company has begun rainwater harvesting projects to mitigate the problem. Debasish Dutta, a resident of ward 23, has repeatedly written to state leaders, including Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari and Minister Agnimitra Paul, but has faced resistance and even attacks during earlier protests. He says illegal construction, encroachment on railway land, and lack of sewage management worsen the situation each monsoon.
Panihati Municipality, about 20 km from Kolkata, has 35 wards, many of which are submerged for months; wards 23, 24, 25, 26 and 31 remain permanently flooded. Local councillors have resigned and the municipality is now run by an administrator. A senior officer from the Urban Development Department said a detailed report on the drainage system was requested last month and that necessary steps would be taken. Mr. Dutta has requested a meeting with the Chief Minister’s advisor, Subrata Gupta, to discuss the issue with business leaders. He argues that the BJP government’s aim to revive West Bengal as an industrial destination is undermined by the persistent waterlogging in Panihati.
