KMDA may move SC after NGT again rejects plea to allow Chhhat Puja in city lake; oppn decries move

The TMC, however, said that it believes in the inclusiveness of West Bengal where all religious and linguistic communities live side by side and celebrate all festivals with equal enthusiasm. KMDA, which functions under the state Urban Development Department, recently moved the NGT, East Zone, seeking permission to allow Chhath Puja rituals in the waterbody that has been plagued by pollution, in deference to the religious sentiment of people.

The National Green Tribunal on Thursday rejected the plea of Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA) to allow Chhat puja in Rabindra Sarobar this year and upheld its previous order banning any such ritual there to save its ecosystem, following which the state agency said it may move the Supreme Court against the order. The opposition Congress and BJP slammed the Trinamool Congress administration for its decision to petition the NGT with the same prayer for consecutive years and accused the ruling party of trying to woo the Bihari people ahead of the assembly polls due next year.

Chat Puja is celebrated mainly by people of Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. The TMC, however, said that it believes in the inclusiveness of West Bengal where all religious and linguistic communities live side by side and celebrate all festivals with equal enthusiasm.

KMDA, which functions under the state Urban Development Department, recently moved the NGT, East Zone, seeking permission to allow Chhath Puja rituals in the waterbody that has been plagued by pollution, in deference to the religious sentiment of people. The agency, which is the custodian of the 73-acre lake, also submitted before the court that there could be law and order problem as thousands of devotees broke open locked gates of the sprawling lake area last year and offered puja violating the NGT orders.

A bench of Justice S P Wangdi and two expert members rejected the petition and directed KMDA to ensure that its earlier order of not allowing anyone on the premises of the lake on the Chhat Puja days in November is strictly enforced this time. "We are thinking about moving the Supreme Court for reviewing the NGT order," Urban Development Minister Firhad Hakim told reporters.

Hakim, also a senior TMC leader, said, "We are of the view that a day's rituals, being practised for ages by people, cannot do much damage to the lake. It can be restored to its previous state by our men shortly after the rituals are over." Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Choudhury claimed that TMC supremo and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is practising "vote puja in the name of Chhat puja". Assembly election in West Bengal is likely to be held in March-April next year.

"Does she (Banerjee) think Biharis are not conscious about the environment? Does she think Biharis won't go to a proper alternative waterbody like Rabindra Sarobar if the government chooses a spot and makes all arrangements to make it communicable? Actually, she seeks to capitalise on Bihari sentiment. She considers them only as votebank," Chowdhury, the state Congress president, said. For the same reason, the CM had stopped Durga Puja immersion on the Vijaya Dashami some years back to allow Muharram processions, he said adding that she did it on her own and Muslims did not ask for it.

The TMC is trying to sow the seed of division among Bengali and Bihari communities in a subtle way, BJP leader Samik Bhattacharya alleged, without elaborating. "All of a sudden, the TMC has woken up to the issue of Chhat Puja. It was being observed by people for so many years without her (Banerjee's) intervention. She is now desperate to show her love to the Bihari community," he said.

A senior TMC leader said that these comments only reflected how the opposition is politicising every administrative move. "We don't believe in votebank politics. Under the rule of Mamata Banerjee, all communities are living in amity in the state and celebrating their own festivals. The KMDA move was prompted by administrative considerations based on previous experiences," he said.

Environmentalists Somendra Nath Ghosh and Sumita Bandyopadhyay hailed the order of the NGT and wondered what had prompted KMDA to make such a plea again. Subhas Dutta, another environmentalist, said the NGT has pointed out that KMDA cannot evade its responsibility to implement a court order by invoking religious sentiments and law and order issue.

In 2016, the NGT had allowed Chhath puja to be performed in the lake for that year only under certain regulations. In the next year, the court ordered that no Chhat Puja rituals would be allowed anymore to prevent pollution of the lake and the surrounding manicured gardens and grounds, and asked KMDA to enforce the ruling.

However, in 2018 and 2019, thousands of devotees forcefully entered the lake area and performed Chhat Puja rituals. On the reason behind moving the NGT again, KMDA CEO Antara Acharya had said, "There is religious sentiment involved and many women and children gather at the spot. It is difficult to prevent them from entering the lake compound." Rabindra Sarobar is part of National Lake Conservation Plan of Government of India. The huge lake and the surrounding grounds are used for several sporting activities from rowing, swimming competitions to cricket, football and other activities.