More than 150 water bodies in various areas under the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) that have been filled with garbage or are covered with water hyacinth will be restored, an official in the civic body said.

Across the city and its adjoining areas, the first step to illegally fill a water body involves dumping garbage or construction waste into the water, an engineer of the BMC said.

Illegal construction starts shortly after the fill-up is complete, the engineer said.

An official in the BMC’s environment department told The Telegraph on Thursday that they have carried out a survey and identified at least 150 water bodies that have been partially filled with garbage or construction waste.

Among these are several that are covered with water hyacinth, too.

The water bodies are located in Duttabad, Mahishbathan, Nayapatti, Kaikhali, Narayanpur and parts of Rajarhat.

“The cleaning work is scheduled to start next week,” the BMC official said.

According to the official, multiple survey teams were sent out to these areas. The teams photographed the water bodies.

“In Rajarhat and Narayanpur, we came across more than 40 water bodies that have been almost filled up by dumping construction waste and other garbage into the water. These places, which border New Town, are witnessing a construction boom,” said the official.

This newspaper has reported how residents and civic officials have stalled
the filling of ponds in Rajarhat and Mahishbathan, among other places.

The East Kolkata Wetlands Management Authority (EKWMA) has identified 505 unauthorised structures in the wetlands but progress in pulling them down has allegedly been slow.

Rahima Biwi Mondal, the mayoral council member in charge of the environment department of the BMC, said all the water bodies identified by the survey will be
restored. The civic body will set up boards notifying them as water bodies after the clean-up.

“We have decided to restore all the water bodies that our teams identify. This is an ongoing process. Till now 150 water bodies have been identified. Our teams will cover more areas and we will keep clearing the ones that get identified,” Mondal said.

According to her, the civic body will take legal action against those found involved in filling water bodies.

At a meeting held in Nabanna on June 24, chief minister Mamata Banerjee had flagged illegal filling of canals and ponds and came down on urban local bodies, police and administrative officials for the violation.

“Ponds are being filled up like these are their (the perpetrators’) properties. Buildings are coming up after filling water bodies,” Mamata had said.

“There is a contractor-promoter raj. Those who are involved in this should remember that the government will not spare anyone. Illegal construction is going on unabated. Tall buildings are coming up. When a building collapses, we are blamed. But there is no one to check when the buildings are constructed,” the chief minister had said.

The added areas of Salt Lake, including Mahisbathan, Polenite and Nayapatti, and the areas behind Sukantanagar, such as Kulipara and Khasmahal, are dotted with water bodies.

Many are parts of the East Kolkata Wetlands, a Ramsar site that spreads across 125sq km and includes water bodies as well as agricultural tracts. The East Kolkata Wetlands are considered Calcutta’s kidneys because they treat the city’s effluents through natural means and make it fit for agriculture and pisciculture.

Rajarhat and Narayanpur, too, have many large and medium water bodies, while places like Baguiati, Kestopur and Kaikhali also have multiple ponds.

Another BMC official said they decided to start the survey of water bodies following the nudge from the chief minister.

“The chief minister herself flagged the issue of water bodies being filled to make way for illegal buildings. She had also admonished the councillors of the Bidhannagar
Municipal Corporation and said they were not working. We could not sit back and do nothing after this,” the official said.