Kolkata, Feb 23 (PTI) Noting that the West Bengal government was unable to handle mass agitations coming in the way of pulling down over 500 illegal constructions in the East Kolkata wetlands, the Calcutta High Court on Monday said it is contemplating engaging paramilitary forces to get this done.
The high court said that despite its earlier directions for the removal of unauthorised constructions in the illegally-filled wetlands, the authorities are yet to demolish them.
Noting that the state authorities are pleading helplessness in demolishing the illegal constructions on the erstwhile waterbodies that come under the East Kolkata wetlands, Justice Amrita Sinha verbally said, “The court is contemplating engaging paramilitary forces to get this done.” The court asked the petitioner to implead the Union of India in the matter as party respondents, while posting the matter for further hearing on March 16.
The East Kolkata Wetlands, located on the eastern fringes of Kolkata and spread over an area of 12,500 hectare, form one of the largest assemblages of sewage-fed fish ponds, according to the website of the EKW management authority.
The East Kolkata Wetlands Management Authority (EKWMA), entrusted with the statutory responsibility for conservation and management of the EKW area, is a statutory government agency under the West Bengal government.
A visibly exasperated Justice Sinha said that despite reports piling up on behalf of the authorities in the court, there is no visible work done for the restoration of the wetlands.
“I do not want any further report, I want ground-level work to be done,” Justice Sinha said.
The court, noting that there are more than 500 illegal constructions in the said area spread over the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and South 24 Parganas district jurisdictions, asked what was being done about demolishing these and restoring the wetlands.
When the EKWMA lawyer stated that it had passed multiple orders stating that these are illegal constructions, the court said that these orders need to be implemented by way of bringing down the unauthorised constructions.
While noting that the EKWMA authority has brought to the notice of the court their lack of infrastructure to deal with such unauthorised constructions, Justice Sinha said that any illegal construction within the EKWMA area must be demolished.
She noted that the authority has also stated they were unable to handle mass agitations when steps were taken to disconnect electricity connections to the illegal constructions.
Justice Sinha said that although the court previously held that the EKW, where large areas of wetlands have been illegally filled up and unauthorised constructions have appeared, should be restored, this has not yet happened.
Representing the petitioner, senior advocate Bikash Bhattacharya submitted that illegal constructions are continuing by filling up the East Kolkata Wetlands, putting to peril the fragile ecological balance.
He prayed that the East Kolkata Wetlands authorities file a report as to what steps they have taken pursuant to the court’s directions.
The EKWMA authority’s lawyer stated before the court that according to the latest report submitted by it, power supply company CESC, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and the Kolkata Police’s Kasba police station were requested for a joint inspection of the area in December 2025.
It was stated that nobody from the KMC turned up for the said joint inspection.
The EKWMA lawyer stated that due to mass agitation in the area, electricity connections to the illegal constructions could not be disconnected. PTI AMR NN
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