Promises won't save wetlands, Mr CM

World Environment Day, June 5, 2002: I have received many complaints about the misdeeds of promoters. We will have one legal provision to protect the wetlands from promoters.
World Environment Day, June 5, 2003: I want promoters not to take a single step towards wetlands.
World Environment Day, June 5, 2004: Strong penal action will be taken against promoters (who have an eye on wetlands).We will not allow filling up of even an inch of the wetlands. We are committed to protecting the environment.
West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, it seems, has been saving his environment-friendliest face — and words — for Environment Day.
But, as environmentalists are beginning to learn, the chief minister''s words do not really translate to a better and more hope-inducing situation on the ground. The city''s wetlands continue to be filled up, as the chief minister moves from one green-crusade speech to another, and the best indicator of how things are really shaping up is the growing number of complaints — against land-sharks having an eye on wetlands — being lodged with the West Bengal Pollution Control Board.
In 2002, 13 complaints were filed in the city. In 2003, it shot up to 19. This year, till May, the figure is five (and growing). The state-wide figures of 60 and 66 in the last two years are cause for even more alarm.
One of the most glaring examples of daylight crime is the Surer Math in Dum Dum. "More than half of the eight-bigha expanse has been filled up in the last two months," Swapnamoy Chakraborty, a resident of the area, said. Every day, truckloads of earth are dumped into the water to pave the way for a sports complex. Though a concerted effort from residents has stopped work for the moment, they fear the authorities are stalling for time with the municipal elections a year away.
At least two of the 11 bighas of the Padmapukur waterbody near airport have been filled up to make way for a private engineering college.
Environmentalists like Rani Biswas of Nagarik Sanghati do not blame promoters when the government itself is interested in pushing a Bill that may sound the deathknell for waterbodies. Former Green Bench presiding judge Bhagabati Prosad Banerjee agrees. The draft Bill on the "protection of waterbodies" is a misnomer, he feels. "It is aimed at the destruction of waterbodies." Section 7(2b) of the Bill mentions that permission will not be granted for filling up any pond of 10 acres or more without a public hearing.
"How can a Bill state something like this when even one acre is vital for the environment?" he asked.