Save-wetland plan ready, finally

Save-wetland plan ready, finally
Local Experts & Residents Miffed At Not Being Consulted For Govt’s Grand Wetland Project
Suman Chakraborti | TNN

Kolkata: Seven years after declaring the East Kolkata Wetlands a Ramsar site, the state has finally come up with an action plan to protect it.
To ensure effective management, the plan proposes dividing the 12,500-hectare wetland area into four sections — substantial waterbodies, agricultural land, productive farming plots and rural settlements. “Detailed plans for each part have been chalked out and sent to the Centre. We had also sought an initial fund of Rs 3 crore, of which Rs 60 lakh has been sanctioned,” said East Kolkata Wetland Management Authority (EKWMA) chief technical officer Nitai Kundu.
To conserve only the waterbodies — that spread over 5,852.14 hectares — the authorities have decided that no conversion of wetlands, waterbodies and bheries or fish farms will be allowed. “This is ecologically the most important area of the Ramsar site. A sizeable local population depends on the sewage-fed pisciculture that is extensively done here. The waterbodies are also known to act as a carbon sink and the area a natural habitat of several aquatic flora and fauna species,” Kundu pointed out.
However, it may consider some activities to manage land parcels adjacent to these waterbodies, like desiltation programme, environment monitoring of sewage and conservation of bio-diversity as well as promotion of eco-tourism through setting up of zoological and botanical gardens, nature heritage parks, bird sanctuaries and animal rescue centres.
For managing agricultural areas spread over 4,718.56 hectares, the authorities will permit development of eco-tourism projects, like medicinal gardens, horticulture, floriculture and similar activities. It also suggests setting up of research and environmentrelated educational institutions.
The management plan also mentions measures for productive farming area spread over 602.78 hectares. This section is one of biggest challenges that EKWMA faces. It was way back in 1860 that KMC acquired this area for disposal of solid waste. Known as Dhapa now, nearly 150 tonnes of vegetables are produced daily in this zone.
Noting that the solid waste dump has reached its saturation, the management plan has suggested development of community-based facilities, including waste recycling and solid waste management programmes. The management plan has called for proper demarcation and effective control of the garbage dump to prevent leaching from contaminating groundwater. Pollution arising out of the site is to be monitored. No spatial expansion of existing habitation shall be allowed.
A part of the urban settlements of Bidhannagar Municipality and nearly 40 rural ones — spread over 1,326.52 hectares — are located in the East Kolkata Wetlands. Conversion of the existing habitation to more eco-friendly forms will be allowed. “In added areas, the environment department will examine proposals, but no waterbody will be allowed to be converted. For development proposals, prior permission of the environment department or its delegated authorities like EKWMA will be required,” Kundu said.
The EKWMA official said three projects — desilting of canals, planting of trees and desilting of ponds will be taken up soon. “We will start work to desilt 100 km of canal from January. Another 100 km stretch will be desilted under KEIP project for which the Asian Development Bank has approved Rs 32 crore,” Kundu said.
Simultaneously, an afforestation programme will be kicked off to plant 20,000 trees over three years. “We have planted 5,000 trees like teak and mahogany. We plan to plant coconut trees along the bheris,” Kundu said.
Significantly, the blueprint has neither been discussed with locals, nor experts from the region consulted. The EKWMA official argues the proposal is based on the report of Wetlands International, a consultancy firm based in the Netherlands that has considerable expertise on wetlands. But scientists here, who have worked in the wetlands for years, are livid that the government did not even consider them worthy of consultation. “Why is the wetland not in the public domain? And why have local stakeholders not been consulted?” questioned former ASI director AK Ghosh.
Environment biologist and toxicology expert Pulak Lahiri, who has worked extensively in the region, felt interaction with local residents would have helped in adding valuable inputs. “There are a lot of suggestions that only local experts can offer because they know the conditions,” he said.
That the plan is ready is itself an achievement given the constraints under which the Institute of Wetland Management & Ecological Design functions. Housed in only two flats in Salt Lake, there is neither adequate space nor infrastructure to manage something as vital as the East Kolkata Wetlands from this cubbyhole.

Trees hacked by the hundreds, but no compensation

Trees hacked by the hundreds, but no compensation

Suman Chakraborti | TNN

Kolkata: Several large trees have been chopped off along the stretch in front of City Centre in Salt Lake to make way for the East-West Metro project. A total of 800 trees will be chopped off. What’s worrying locals and green activists of the city is that the mandatory compensatory plantation is seldom put into practice after such large-scale felling of trees for several civic projects.
According to the rule book, for every tree felled, five trees have to be planted as compensation. However, in reality, this rule is hardly observed.
While the forest department has planted some saplings on road dividers, parks and green verges in Salt Lake, locals are not satisfied. “It is a complete crime as to how the trees have been chopped off,” said B K Chatterjee of Bidhannagar Bachao committee.
“The authorities have planted a few saplings haphazardly. This can in no way compensate the loss of the massive green cover,” said an horticulture expert.
On Sunday, ToI inspected some of the previous projects for which several large trees had to be felled. Several trees were cut down for the Gariahat flyover that was inaugurated way back on 2002. Seven years down the line, the concrete stretch below the flyover is now occupied as car parking lots.
Hundreds of trees were cut down along the Tolly Nullah to execute the extended Metro alignment from Tollygunge to Garia. Similarly, many trees were cut for the AJC Bose flyover project. The forest department had beautified small stretches beneath the flyover, but that can hardly compensate for the loss of full-grown trees.
Many large trees were chopped off along the Kestopur canal side off VIP Road by Hidco authorities to carry out dredging work. More recently, several large trees were felled for the EM Bypass-VIP Road flyover project. Authorities say the compensatory plantation drive would take place once the flyover work gets completed.
At present, the authorities who cut down trees hand over the required money to carry out compensatory plantation to the forest department.
“Either the contractors take up the job by themselves or they hand it over to the forest utilization division. Authorities of the Metro project had reportedly given Rs 40 lakh to the forest department to carry out compensatory forestation,” said a senior forest official.
As there is no monitoring authority to oversee the drive, there is a danger to the city’s green cover, fear environmentalists. Green activist Subhas Dutta said such a moniteering body is the need of the hour.

Trees being felled in Salt Lake for the East-West Metro project

A NOVEL THEME WITH NEW IDEAS

“ARJUNA PIERCING THE BULL’S EYE”

The conflict between the deity and the demon and the struggle between the good and the evil are in principle indistinguishable. Kurukshetra rests deep inside our heart where the coexistence of the good and the evil has always kept the character of the battlefield alive. The great warrior Arjuna had come down on the Kurukshetra with the objective of upholding the spirit of virtue over vice. The grandeur of Ma Durga and the pomp of Arjuna are two sides of the same coin. Both seem to aim at the annihilation of the evil and sustenance of the good.

A part of this pandal in the form of the sharp edge of an arrow signifies the triumph of the good over the evil. Tin, the metal used on the top of the pandal, metaphorically represents the weapons used in the battle of the Kurukshetra. In the world fraught with inequality and disharmony, let the worship of Goddess Durga usher in a world of equality and unity. Let all conflicts, troubling our heart constantly, disappears for ever. Let Arjuna’s single-minded pursuit and ultimate triumph in piercing the eye of the revolving fish give us strength and impetus to make our India great and triumphant.


Let us all, at an individual level, be Arjuna ourselves; declare war against the dark cloud of evil crowding our heart; let all disharmonies vanish; let happiness, joy and peace overwhelm the great earth. At this auspicious hour, we pray for you all – be happy and enjoy yourselves.

Jayabrata Kar

Joint Coordinator
DL Block, Salt Lake

IT union plans crèche in Sector V

Sobia Khan | TNN

Kolkata: An IT union, often criticised for just being there, intends to set up a crèche in Sector V, the first such in the city’s tech hub, for the benefit of young mothers employed in the various infotech companies operating in the electronics complex.
West Bengal Information Technology Services Association (WBITSA) — whose establishment in November 2006 ruffled quite a few local IT honchos — has already held preliminary talks with Webel and Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NITA) about being allotted space to set up such a facility.
“We heard that quite a few people were leaving their jobs in the absence of such facilities, and being a responsible body, we felt that if no one else was doing it, we should come forward and set up a crèche ourselves since our goal is to promote the cause of IT in Bengal,” WBITSA general secretary Somnath Bhattacharya said.
However, Bhattacharya declined to comment on why local IT companies, which project themselves as progressive employers and have a large number of women employees, had not set up a crèche till date in Sector V. “We are willing to work with companies for ensuring that the crèche benefits as many IT sector employees as possible,” he said, adding that modalities on size and timing are still being worked out.
NITA chairman S A Ahmed said his organisation supported the crèche initiative. “We will provide all possible help to make it a success,” Ahmed said.
Incidentally, Bangalore and Hyderabad have quite a few crèches dedicated to the children of IT employees. Over 200-odd IT/ITES companies function in Sector V, which includes the likes of India’s No. 1 software exporter TCS, No. 3 exporter Wipro, as well as global biggies like IBM and Cognizant.
Both TCS and Wipro, though, are examining the benefits of having independent crèches for the benefit of their staff. Even the merits of a shared facility are being explored. “We may come up with one or share a common facility,” TCS human resources head Ajoyendra Mukherjee said.

Salt Lake planner revisits town

Prithvijit Mitra & Suman Chakraborti | TNN Kolkata:

Dobrivoje Toskovic’s tryst with Salt Lake began 40 years ago when it was just a blueprint. The Yugloslavian architect was flown down to draw up the masterplan for Kolkata’s first satellite township. He gave shape to a township that has grown manifold over the years and inspired several more in and around the city. More than four decades later, 81-yearold Toskovic revisited Salt Lake on Tuesday to check out if it had grown according to plan. And, he came back impressed. “It has grown into a lovely garden city, just as I had planned. There are community housing, parks, clean roads and the traffic management seemed fine. I did feel a bit nostalgic today. But more than anything else, I felt proud that the city had developed just the way I had wanted it to,” Toskovic said. He visited Central Park, several blocks in the township and was elated to see the greenery all around. “The roads are nicely lined with trees, which is a wonderful sight.” Toskovic arrived in Kolkata a few days ago to attend a prize distribution ceremony and decided to visit the township on Tuesday. “He was happy after visiting the township, saying that much of his plan had materialised,” said Bidhannagar municipality chairman Biswajiban Majumder. The Belgrade-based architect had emphasised greenery, which he had wanted in 50% of the township. “He visited Central Park and was happy that his wish for greenery in the township had been implemented,” said a civic official. Toskovic said he had planned to use the central patch of greenery (Central Park) to hold cultural programmes and to set up a treasure hall. He was happy to learn that various cultural programmes and fairs were being held there. He was also pleased that most of the blocks had community halls of their own, as planned. However, he lamented the absence of landmarks. In his masterplan, he had earmarked all the corner plots for institutions that could serve as landmarks. Besides, the islands in the middle of the roads were much bigger in his plan. And, he had kept highrises completely out of it.

Water crisis haunts Salt Lake

When it comes to water supply, Kolkata is way ahead of other metros. But the posh satellite township of Salt Lake on the eastern fringes of the city is an exception.

Salt Lake residents have a tough time every summer when taps run dry. Come 2009 and their suffering is only going to get worse. A survey by French consultant Seureca has predicted that water supply to the township will fall far short of the increasing demand. The state urban development department had engaged Seureca to conduct a water management survey at Salt Lake and its adjacent areas. The survey was aimed at exploring the feasibility of outsourcing water supply, sewerage, drainage and solid waste management of the township through public-private partnership.

The experts have pointed out that the projected demand for piped water in Salt Lake area - excluding Sector V - would far exceed the supply capacity by end-2008, The daily demand of water that stands at 9 million gallon a day will touch 20 million gallon by then. At present, the municipality receives around 6 million gallon from Tala and the civic body pumps in around 3 million gallon every day.

Salt Lake residents can easily understand the gravity of the situation as they already have to bear with shortage during the summer. Civic officials conceded that the township does not have a water treatment plant. It has to depend on the daily supply of filtered surface water from the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. According to an agreement, the municipality can get a maximum of 10 million gallon of filtered water per day, but receives much less now.

There exists an underground reservoir with a capacity of five million gallon per day for emergency. But the report predicts that it will be of little help in tackling the crisis. Seureca has proposed that a new underground reservoir be built. The report warns that unless this is done, water supply may have to be slashed to six hours a day in the future to narrow down the demand-supply gap. But the Bidhannagar Municipality is working on several plans to improve the water supply system. The municipality's chairman-in-council, Tapan Talukdar, who looks after the township's water supply system, said they have started working on increasing the capacity of the water tanks.

"We have started working on increasing the capacity of water tanks 1, 3 and 13. Gradually, capacity of all the water tanks will be increased. We have also submitted a proposal to KMC to increase the supply of water from Tala," he said.

At present, the 17 water tanks at Salt lake have a capacity of 20,000 gallon each. The capacity would be increased to 25,000 gallon, Talukdar said. Besides, the civic body is trying to introduce water service charges to earn revenue with which it can pay for additional water supply from Tala.

The civic authorities are also trying to extend the duration of supplying filtered water from seven to 12 hours a day. The state urban and municipal affairs department also plans to introduce 24-hour surface water supply to all municipality areas under KMA with the help of JNNURM funds.

Source: TOI

Sec V won’t be flooded this year

Techies may no longer have to wade through knee-deep water in the coming monsoon. “Sector V will not be inundated this time,” Nabadiganta Industrial Township Authority (NITA) chairman S A Ahmed told TOI. “Work on the damaged roads and sewerlines will be completed by July,” he added. NITA is the authority responsible for Sector V.
Drain water from Sector V drains into Bagjola canal. With drain water from New Town also being channelised through the canal, it invariably overflows during the monsoon as it is illequipped to flush out water from both sides.
Companies at Sector V, also called Nabadiganta Township now, said they would wait to see what happens when it actually starts pouring in June-July. “As we are the worst sufferers whenever it rains, we are keeping our fingers crossed on this. However, the NITA initiative is a welcome development,” Wipro senior manager (administration and facilities) Jyotirmoy Bhattacharya said.
Incidentally, state urban development minister Asok Bhattacharya has also said in the recent past that improving drainage and sewerage systems of Sector V would be accorded top priority. Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority has been asked to prepare a master plan in this regard.
“Beautification of Sector V will be completed in 18 months,” Ahmed said. NITA has signed agreements with Encon and Selvel for improving the IT hub.
Ahmed said easing traffic in Sector V would also be given importance. “Work on building a flyover in front of Wipro and J K Saha junction is in progress. Also, two bridges are expected to come up near Kestopur canal by mid-2009,” he added.

Sobia Khan | TNN