A vacation division bench of the high court on Thursday ordered an interim stay on uprooting trees in the Maidan for the construction of the underground section of the Joka-Esplanade Metro corridor.
The bench headed by Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya passed the order on a PIL by People United For Better Living In Calcutta (PUBLIC), a citizen-action group.
The petition said 700 trees would have to be transplanted for the construction of the 5km underground section between Kidderpore and Esplanade and alleged indiscriminate damage to the “lungs” of Calcutta.
The RVNL, the implementing agency of the 15km corridor, and the Centre, the custodian of the Maidan, were not represented in the court despite apparently being served notices.
“The non-representation of both RVNL as well as the Union of India... does not help matters since the court has been deprived of a clearer factual picture of what exactly the RVNL proposes to do..." the bench said.
“The Court hence must proceed on the material disclosed in the petition.... The Court is hence inclined to pass a limited order of injunction on RVNL to immediately stop uprooting trees in the Maidan area until RVNL and the Union of India/Ministry of Environment file their respective affidavits.”
The case will be heard again on November 9.
“The Maidan is one of the lungs of the city.... A Maidan shorn of trees would irrevocably change the cityscape to a thirsty and arid space,” said the bench.
Amit Roy, RVNL executive director, told this newspaper: “I have nothing to comment as the matter is in court.”
“We need the Metro, but not at the cost of indiscriminate damage to the Maidan,” said Bonani Kakkar, of PUBLIC.