Environmental group unhappy over pollution level at maidan

Kolkata, Jan 28 (UNI) Kolkata Green Network,a leading environmental watch group in the city, has criticised the abnormally high pollution level at the proposed Book Fair ground in the Maidan area and blamed the organisers for the ''mess''.

Issuing a statement here today after conducting a joint visit of the members of a number of environmental agencies, including some NGOs to oversee the prevailing situation in the Maidan area, KGN spokesman S M Ghosh alleged that contrary to the claim of Booksellers' and Publishers' Guild, organisers of the 23rd Kolkata Book Fair, the present pollution level in the Maidan was '' far high making the entire zone highly polluted''.

Lambasting the organisers as well as the decorators who were present in the field for the past few days along with hundreds of their employees, Mr Ghosh said construction of thousands of bamboo structures by digging large holes had also greatly damaged the maidan surface.

Moreover, the absence of any proper sewerage discharge system had increased the environmental pollution in the area by manifold, the KGN spokesman claimed and charged the authorities with not installing any air purifier device near the temporary toilets.

The agency was also critical of the army, the prime custodian of the maidan,and blamed it for not issueing any clear guideline for the Environmental Impact Assesment(EIA)for maintaninig a proper ecological balance in the area.

Incidentally, the prospect of holding this year's Kolkata Book Fair in the city Maidan which attracts millions of book lovers every year, has run into rough weather following protests of several environmental groups against the holding such annual event destroying the greenary of the maidan which was also called as the lungs of the city.

Though the Booksellers and Publishers Guild had all along been claiming that all necessary steps had been taken to ensure the full protection of the greenary of the ground, most of the environmentalists thought otherwise and filed a Public Interest Litigation in the Calcutta High Court which is likely to give its final verdict on the future of the Book Fair tomorrow.

UNI