Green win: KIT stops pond-fill

KOLKATA: Here is one for the green brigade. The Kolkata Improvement Trust has suspended the filling up of ponds near Subhas Sarobar to build a road.
Following protests from local residents, KIT officials on Friday agreed to review the project and even scrap it “if the people were against it”. Two of the four ponds had already been filled up by the time people took up the cudgels to save their natural surroundings.KIT even mulled selling ‘surplus land’ on the filled-up ponds for Rs 50 crore but now the plans are on hold.
The official word is that work has been stopped to check the alignment of an underground sewer but senior officials have acknowledged that they are veering away from their original plan and are trying to complete the project without filling up the two remaining ponds.
Though KIT claimed to have the fisheries department’s permission and financial and administrative approval from KMDA, local MLA Rupa Bagchi and councillor Rajib Biswas have asked the KIT authorities to explain the necessity of the project and review it.
“They should have informed local residents and taken them into confidence. Even if the project has been approved by government agencies, there has got to be a little more transparency since ponds are being filled up. Our MLA will soon take up the matter with urban development minister Ashok Bhattacharya,” said councillor Rajib Biswas.
It has been suggested that the KIT should link the new road with an existing lane to save the ponds. “But we are not sure if that is feasible since it might involve chopping trees,” added Biswas.
The KIT, on the other hand, said that the road was being built in “public interest, to save Subhas Sarobar”. “This road will help to divert a part of the traffic from the road along Subhas Sarobar. We are not going to touch the remaining ponds or use the land for commercial purposes. But if locals are not convinced, the road will not be constructed,” said KIT chief engineer Deepankar Chatterjee.
Residents of the adjacent Lake Districts residential complex objected to the project on the ground that the waterbodies and the greenery in the area were being sacrificed for a road that “was not urgently needed”. “It is clear that the idea is to link the plot with the main road to make it suitable for a housing complex. They have stopped the work now but we are keeping our fingers crossed,” said Suresh Khanna of the Lake District complex.