“Plus we are terribly short-staffed. The verges need beautification and I have sent detailed project reports to the corporation about it. Work will start as soon as we are sanctioned funds,” says Mondal.

Still clean and green

The township’s most attractive Green Verge would be the one cutting across BE Block. Inaugurated before the Pujas, it cost Rs 1.65 crore and took about a year to build. The stretch has become a favourite with visitors.

“People start coming in from 3am,” says Sunil Kumar Biswas, whose company built and is now in charge of its maintenance. “Many people drive down from different blocks just to walk in this beautiful stretch.”

They have seven cleaners and two security guards manning the verge. “Initially when we proposed fountains and fish ponds critics said they would become breeding grounds for mosquitoes. But we change the water weekly and keep it very clean,” says Biswas.

Octogenarian Adhir Chakraborty is a regular visitor to this verge. Though wheelchair-bound, he is brought here by his help Rina Das every day. “Previously I used to visit BE Park but this new park is too beautiful to stay away from. I love coming here,” he smiled.

The township has other well-kept Green Verges too. In Sector 3, once encroachers were evicted along the Eastern Drainage Canal, they beautified the stretch that was inaugurated this summer. The Kestopur canal-side from AA Block to AE Block got renovated last year and has been maintained quite well too.

“It’s easy to build something but difficult to maintain,” say Rabin Mondal and Amalesh Das, who are in charge of cleaning along Kestopur Canal. “Many visitors are ignorant or stubborn. They will litter despite being asked to use dustbins. Elderly people coming for morning walks feed biscuits to dogs but throw the wrappers about.” They have about 15 people in charge of cleaning the verge but in monsoons the number swells to over 40.

While the parks, gardens and markets of the township were handed over to the then-municipality by the urban development (UD) department years ago, the latter continues to build or maintain some of them in special cases.

“We built the BL Block verge, for instance, on special request from the higher authorities. Our department has a lot of funds so the beautification quality and maintenance are much better than those by the corporation,” said a senior UD official.

Winter afternoons in the BE Block Green Verge are as pleasant as can be. Kids chasing one another along the tiled walkway, teenagers clicking selfies before the fountains, senior citizens looking into the fish pond and chirping birds making their way back to the trees.

Cut to the same afternoon in the Green Verge across BG-BH blocks and you see an entirely different picture. A dog rummages through garbage bags, a domestic help dashes past the wild growth, not a single evening walker is to be spotted and a dhobi in a corner prepares to burn a crate of eggs in the hope of shooing away mosquitoes.

“Despite having a Green Verge in my block I have to go to parks in other blocks for my walks,” says Adhir Chatterjee, an 87-year-old resident of CG Block and a past present of the block association too. “The stretch has become a jungle and I have seen snakes there. Lighting is minimal and I’m afraid of falling in the dark. Why are we suffering when parks like BF are so clean?”

Problem areas

The most urgent problem in the Green Verge stretching across AG-AH, BG-BH and CG blocks is the garbage. In some patches, the volume of garbage has completely covered the grass underneath.

Plastic bags, paper cups, thermocol plates, milk packets, detergent packets, clothes... A corner towards BH Block even has a sheet of glass leaning dangerously on the wall and an upturned bathroom commode lies abandoned.

The dirtiest patches are around the gates from the lanes, implying that people walk up to the gates and fling out their trash.

Much of the ground is covered by dried leaves. In some places the leaves have been heaped but not removed. Near BG Block, vines have intertwined overhead cables. While the AH Block stretch has many tall trees, the BG-BH and CG Block land have a lot of empty space to plant more. In the BG-BH stretch, a statue with arms stretched out has a broken arm, propped up by branches.

CG Block’s community hall lies inside the verge and kids play cricket outside. They also have a children’s play area nearby with cartoons painted on the walls and equipment that work. But no children were seen playing.

“Anyone coming here is just asking to get bitten by mosquitoes,” said a laundry man who has been here for over 30 years. “We keep the immediate space around us clean but the rest of the verge is a jungle. Mosquitoes bite us night and day.”

Shared responsibility

In more than one spot of the verge, there are banners crediting councillor Anita Mondal for the beautification although residents don’t seem to find anything beautiful. “We have complained to the councillor over 10 times but no action has been taken,” says Chatterjee of CG Block.

Mondal concedes that the verge needs work but says residents are not beyond blame either. “The stretch is getting dirty because residents clean out their houses and ask their domestic helps to dump the waste in the Green Verge on their way out. I am tired of educating residents and even the dengue scare hasn’t been a wake-up call,” says the councillor.

She sends workers to trim the grass and clear the fallen leaves but the verge is so huge that by the time they reach one end, grass of the other end has grown.

The BE Block Green Verge, inaugurated before the Pujas Telegraph file picture

Dead trees and garbage around CG Block community hall. Telegraph file picture

Plastic bags and wild growth in the AG-AH Block Green Verge Telegraph file picture

Plastic, dried leaves and even a bathroom commode dumped in the BG-BH Block verge Telegraph file picture