Santanu Chatterjee is looking a little warily at November. The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has dismissed the Bengal government’s plea to allow Chhath Puja in Rabindra Sarobar, the Dhakuria lakes. But the government is likely to move the Supreme Court on the matter. In any case, Chatterjee is apprehensive about what will happen on the day of the puja this year.

Chhath Puja is being performed in the lake grounds for almost a decade now, causing much pollution in the lake waters, and protests from lake-goers and environmentalists have been able to stop the practice. Last year, thousands of worshippers forced their way through police security to perform the puja at the waterside.

“There is nothing to protect the sanctity of the environment,” says Chatterjee, 55, a veteran lake-goer. Recently he has turned activist for the lakes. He looks around as we walk briskly through the grounds. It is about eight in the morning. The lake grounds are now open from 5.30am to 9.30am, due to lockdown. It is as if he is treading on precarious ground.

Chatterjee knows the grounds like the back of his hand. He knows how many CCTV cameras are installed on the grounds and where, where dead branches are piled up, where a dead tree trunk needs to be uprooted, where the fish are most visible.

Chhath Puja is not the only concern. The grounds still bear signs of devastation from Cyclone Amphan. Some of the other problems are much older.

Chatterjee, a Kalighat resident, has been coming to the lakes since childhood. He feels protective about the place, but sometimes is also filled with a sense of futility. However much lake-lovers try to keep the grounds undisturbed, problems encroach. In the shape of unauthorised construction, or intruders, or pollution. More often than not they seem strong enough to displace the rightful claim of the city to the lakes as that rare bit of large, open space in contemporary Calcutta, choking with cars and construction.

The lakes, artificially created by the British after acquiring 192 acres of marshy land in the 1920s under a Calcutta Improvement Trust (CIT) project, have been called the lungs of Calcutta.Chatterjee, a graduate from South City College, joined his father’s business of advertisement boards in the mid-Eighties. The boards would be set up on building terraces or streets. But his business began to slow down from the last decade. About four years ago, he shut shop.

And turned to a place beloved from childhood, the lakes. “I used to come here with my parents. We would visit the lily pool,” he says. It was an area meant for children. But more than the pool, in which he does not remember the lilies, he talks about the mini zoo there with birds, monkeys and deer that attracted the children. The zoo is gone; the pool looks different.

In the winter, the waters would be covered by migratory birds. They have almost disappeared.

“And there was the hanging bridge, which still exists. So do the many fish under it. But much of the grounds then were unkempt. There were many more trees, but all parts were not accessible,” Chatterjee said.

As he grew up, he got caught up in the life of his Kalighat neighbourhood. When Kalighat park, where he would play football and basketball with his friends, got taken over by the Metro project, he came back to the lakes.

And after closing down his advertisement business, Chatterjee, a single man, returned to the lakes with renewed

interest.

In these decades, the lake grounds had been spruced up; they were much more people-friendly. A lot had been achieved by Sumita Banerjee, “the lady of the lakes”. Among her many achievements was being part of a successful campaign to stall the construction of a ladies hostel on the grounds.

Chatterjee is part of National Lake Morning Walkers’ Guild, of which the convenor is environmentalist Soumendra Mohan Ghosh, who has constantly highlighted the importance of cleaning the waters.

One persistent problem is the emissions from the swimming and rowing clubs on the northern and southern sides of the lakes. “They are polluting the lake waters,” says Chatterjee. “We have been talking about this for long.”

The Chhath Puja will add to the pollution of waters.

“And there needs to be constant gardening and beautification. By beautification we mean no construction, but landscaping, and addition of hedges, let’s say, of Kamini trees,” Chatterjee said.

“And we must know that fish don’t need to be fed sliced bread. And the trees are getting fewer and fewer in number at the lakes.”