Rabindra Sarovar will no longer be the destination for the next Chhat Puja. Such a decision was reached at unanimously by the stakeholders present at a recent meeting. This means good news especially for environmentalists and bird watchers as they have long been fighting to keep the water and the entire Sarovar area free from pollution.
Three alternative sites for Chhath Puja have been arrived at – one, along the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass close to the Gariahat connector rotary, another near Patuli crossing, and a third one close to Nature Park near Taratala. Those present at the meeting include Rashtriya Bihari Samaj, environmental activists, Kolkata Metropolitan Development Authority (KMDA), Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC), Kolkata Police, and birdwatchers among others.
A decision was taken earlier in keeping with the order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), which was passed in 2017, that had banned Chhat Puja in the Rabindra Sarovar. However the order was violated the very next year. The case goes back as far as 2014, with the Calcutta High Court issuing orders prohibiting the use of the water body for any kind of religious rituals. This was later followed by an Eastern Zonal bench constituted under NGT banning use of the water body for chhat puja.
KMDA authorities have said that it will take the responsibility of transporting devotees to the sites and offer other help if required, for the first year. The Rashtriya Bihari Samaj has appealed for a makeshift arrangement of some temporary shades for two days for the devotees.
The KMDA authorities have also assured that some gaps along the walls surrounding Rabindra Sarovar will be closed in order to stop devotees from entering the premises.
