Five thousand water bodies were filled up by the previous government in the Calcutta metropolitan area and its surroundings, chief minister Suvendu Adhikari said on Monday while inaugurating two restored ponds in Kudghat, on the city’s southern fringes.
“The previous government and the square-foot councillors had filled up 5,000 ponds in the KMDA area, spanning from Joka and Haridevpur to Madhyamgram and Barasat. In Calcutta, they have done everything possible to destroy the environment,” he said.
The term “square-foot councillors” refers to Trinamool councillors accused of demanding kickbacks from real-estate developers at rates calculated per square foot of a project.
The remark comes weeks after the state police’s special task force arrested Debraj Chakrabarty, a former Trinamool councillor of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, for allegedly cheating and extorting around ₹200 crore from 18 complainants.
Investigators alleged that Debraj was linked to an organised syndicate that extorted money from developers in Baguiati, Kestopur and Rajarhat-Gopalpur. The syndicate allegedly forced developers to pay illegal fees, or cut money, calculated on the total square footage of their projects and to buy substandard building materials exclusively from designated suppliers.
Several Trinamool councillors of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, including Sushanta Ghosh, Bappaditya Dasgupta, Sudip Polley, Arijit Das Thakur and Shams Iqbal, have also been arrested on charges of extortion, receiving cut money and running illegal syndicates.
Suvendu said reclaiming the two Kudghat water bodies was a small but important step towards restoring the city’s environment. The state and the Centre had jointly spent more than ₹8 crore on the project, he said.
Calcutta’s water bodies have shrunk over the past few decades, with illegal construction rampant on land that was once occupied by ponds.
Suvendu said: “The situation here was deplorable, with stink and bad smell filling this neighbourhood. One had to use a handkerchief to cover the nose. Some work is remaining. This is a densely populated neighbourhood with several educational institutions. A canal I passed on my way continues to stink.”
The chief minister named the two restored water bodies Shiv and Shakti.
Without referring directly to the KMC elections expected in November, Adhikari sought public support for the state government and the civic body to work together.
“I hope the blessings of the Ganadevata will be with the state government and the KMC to work collectively in the future,” he said.