A bunch of Salt Lake residents cleaned a park in AE Block that had been lying in neglect and turned into a dumping ground.
On Sunday, a group of around a dozen residents and more than 15 labourers were engaged in the clean-up drive for around 14 hours.
The secretary of the AE Block Samaj Sangha, Tapas Sengupta, said they decided to carry out the clean-up drive because the park, which runs through the block, was in a shambles and had turned into a mosquito-breeding ground.
“The entire park had started to resemble a garbage dump. We had no other option but to take up the clean-up drive because the park had turned into a breeding ground of mosquitoes. Some residents have even spotted snakes in the park. Children have stopped going there,” said a resident.
The chairman of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC), Sabyasachi Dutta, who is the local councillor, said the responsibility of cleaning up the park lay with the urban development department.
“The land is the urban development department’s property. The civic body cannot take any action in regard to the park,” Dutta said.
Some residents said they had sent a letter to the urban development department to apprise them of the matter.
“However, we realised that the authorities would take a long time to act. We decided to clean the park ourselves because the situation was worsening by the day,” said a resident.
When contacted by this newspaper, an official in the urban development minister refused to comment.