No more prayers and devotional programmes polluting the waters of Rabindra Savorar lake and its surrounding areas. The West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) has taken some tough measures to keep Kolkata’s Rabindra Sarovar lake and its adjacent areas clean.
The board has placed insertions in newspapers to make people aware of the new regulations that have come into effect. It has been advertised that the decision was taken in accordance with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) orders.
In November of 2017, the NGT had passed a ruling to protect the flora and fauna in the Rabindra Sarovar and surrounding areas. However, it was not enforced, and Chhat Puja and other pujas regularly took place in the lake area. However, the notice says that the ruling will be strictly adhered to.
No public function or poojas can be held at the Sarovar area. No loudspeakers can be placed as these disturb the tranquility and bother the habitat of birds living in the area. No bathing, washing clothes and utensils is allowed either. There will be checks on visitors who enter the area as people routinely go in and leave behind plastics and other pollutants. Visitors can’t enter the area with plastics or plastic containers.
Religious sentiments have long prevented the law enforcing authorities from imposing the strictures for long. Chhat Pooja had been going on in the Sarovar area despite the NGT strictures. Oil, cotton, flowers have been dumped in the lake, not to mention of the accompanying gathering of thousands of people and their chanting and bursting of crackers. However, the green body seems to be indicating through its measures that all that will now be a thing of the past.
[Cover image: Chhat Puja at the Rabindra Sarovar last year]
