Ponds under the Kolkata Municipal Corporation will have notice boards set up in front, declaring them as water bodies to stop a section of realtors from selling them off, mayor Firhad Hakim said on Saturday.
“Notice boards will be set up and if required we will have to deploy police. The civic body will not bow to a section of realtors who are trying to operate illegally by filling up ponds,” Hakim said while directing officials of the civic body to immediately swing into action. “If required KMC will draw up FIRs under specific provisions of the Fishers Act and start a case leading to arrest of those allegedly trying to fill up water bodies.”
The mayor’s instruction to civic officials came on Saturday while he was conversing with a section of Kolkatans during the weekly “Talk to Mayor” session when complaints of illegal filling up of water bodies surfaced.
A resident of Gitanjali Park in Haltu and another from Bosepukur in Kasba voiced their concerns about water bodies under the KMC that have not been cleaned up, inviting a section of real estate developers to turn up with prospective buyers.
He said several ponds in the area, which were under the civic body, did not have any notice boards in front of them.
“Some real estate developers often pull down these boards, begin filling up the portions of water bodies with garbage and then start selling them at high prices,” Hakim said while instructing officials to visit the spot next week.
The Bosepukur resident alleged that a building has started coming up in the northern end of one of the ponds about which he had raised an alarm with the KMC in February.
“Issue a stop work notice immediately and demolish the part that has been constructed,” Hakim instructed his officials. “Unless the constructed part is demolished residents will move in and it will get difficult to act.”
Amidst growing complaints of water bodies being allegedly filled up across the city, Hakim had appealed to citizens in January to inform the KMC if a water body they knew about was not in the list of ponds available on the its website.
Officials later said if someone did not find a water body on the list, they should intimate the environment and heritage department of the corporation.