About 60 demolition orders issued by the East Kolkata Wetlands Management Authority have been pending for two years, sources in the state government said.
These include orders against filling of water bodies, new construction (no permanent structure is allowed in the wetlands) and an attempt to build a bridge on a canal.
Most of these violations have been reported from mouzas close to EM Bypass — from places such as Dhapa, Jagadipota and Mukundapur.
The last time any demolition of a walled structure took place inside the wetlands, which act as the city’s kidneys by recycling sewage naturally, was in July 2022, the official said.
Officials of the East Kolkata Wetlands Management Authority said they do not have any squad to execute the demolition orders.
The authority has informed the district authorities in South and North 24-Parganas, and the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) about the violations.
An official in the state environment department said the KMC and the district authorities often did not respond to demolition orders. The wetlands authority, too, did not pursue the matter to ensure demolition, the official said.
The last time any demolition of a walled structure took place inside the wetlands, which act as the city’s kidneys by recycling sewage naturally, was in July 2022, the official said. The police, KMC and the state environment department had pulled down a wall that was being built around a water body in the wetlands’ Dhapa mouza.
Metro visited the site last week and found a makeshift wall had been erected. An official in the environment department, too, admitted that the place had been encroached again.
To the south of the site, there is a unit where plastic and other recyclable materials are brought for sorting. It is a walled compound and has a gate. Sources in the state government said this unit had been there even before the demolition in 2022.
“There is another two-storey building near these two structures. We have passed demolition orders against all three unauthorised strictures and alerted the KMC (the plots where the structures stand are within the KMC area),” said an official of the state government.
“We have executed some demolition orders but many more are indeed pending. We will soon take action on them,” said an official of the KMC.
An official of the South 24-Parganas district administration said the district authorities did not have a demolition gang either.
“We seek help from the state public works department when we demolish an illegal structure because district administrations do not have demolition squads. The wetlands authority, too, can seek the PWD’s help directly,” said the official.
An official of the North 24-Parganas district administration said: “We have no such information (about pending demolition orders). We will help them (the wetlands authority) as and when we receive communication from them.”
The East Kolkata Wetlands has three parts — settlements (where human habitation is allowed), agricultural land and water bodies. Conversion of water bodies into agricultural land or plots for human habitation is banned.
The wetlands are also protected under the Ramsar Convention, an international treaty for the protection and conservation of wetlands.
“The East Calcutta Wetlands Management Authority has filed nearly 370 FIRs since the zone became a protected area (in 2006). How many demolitions have taken place? Filing an FIR means nothing if the illegal construction or filling of water body is not stopped and the area is restored to its original form,” said Naba Datta, secretary of Sabuj Mancha, a platform of individuals and organisations working on environmental causes.
“The wetlands authority says the wetlands are spread across 12,500 hectares, but I doubt how much is left given the rapid encroachment on the wetlands,” said Dutta.
The website of the wetlands management authority says the wetlands comprise “nearly 254 sewage-fed fisheries distributed across the districts of South and North 24-Parganas covering a total of 37 Mouzas (30 full and 7 part).”