The Bengal government has submitted an affidavit before the eastern zonal branch of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), detailing the steps to be taken to make the Santragachi Jheel in Howrah pollution-free.
The water body, around 12km from the heart of Kolkata, attracts thousands of migratory birds every winter.
The steps, according to the affidavit submitted by chief secretary B.P. Gopalika and signed on February 3, were decided at a meeting of a committee on November 1. The committee, headed by the chief secretary, was set up following an NGT order.
Railway officials and representatives of several state government agencies are among the members. The jheel is on railway land.
The NGT had ordered the formation of the committee last October, after environment activist Subhas Datta complained that the ecologically sensitive water body remained highly polluted despite orders by the tribunal since 2017 to take remedial steps.
Datta cited unchecked release of sewage into the jheel as a primary reason for pollution.
The affidavit pointed out that while the state urban development and municipal affairs department would provide funds to clean up the vegetation of the lake, mainly hyacinths, the state biodiversity board would chip in with technical guidance.
It states that “railway authority to provide the land and allow state government to construct sewage treatment plant”.
While the state will bear 80 per cent of the cost of setting up the treatment plant, the rest will be borne by the railways.
The railways, which had earlier alleged that it did not receive support from the state in preventing encroachment, is now responsible for preventing further encroachments on the jheel area.
The Howrah Municipal Corporation has been entrusted with the responsibility of cleaning garbage, including plastic waste, and launching awareness drive in the area along with the railways.
The affidavit has also mooted the idea of setting up an ecotourism project in the region, jointly by the state tourism department and the railways.
“This is just another round of paper work,” said petitioner Datta. “The state government has been dragging the matter and the railways failing to act decisively,” Datta said.
A railway official said they would state their stand at the next hearing of the matter at the tribunal, scheduled for Monday.