Kolkata: In a bid to ensure that the Maidan and the area surrounding Victoria Memorial remains clean, the Calcutta High Court is learnt to have requested the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) to ensure cleaning of litter.
It was reportedly learnt that the Division Bench of Justice Debangsu Basak and Justice Shampa Sarkar said that the court was anxious about the plastic waste littered in and around the Maidan. The court made the observation while it was hearing a petition by environment activist Subhas Datta who alleged that even after the Apex Court ordered the shifting of the bus terminus from Esplanade in December 2007, the state govt had not executed it.
The court ordered that the KMC must increase the frequency of the cleaning drive to keep the Maidan area free from plastic litter. However, the civic body is of the opinion that the Maidan belongs to the Army and hence the cleaning too is done by them and the state Public Works department. Also, it was pointed out by KMC that it only takes up cleaning when asked to after a political rally. The court is also learnt to have also raised the issue of cooking with fossil fuels in the Victoria Memorial area. “So far as users of fossil fuel within the radius of 3 km of the Victoria Memorial are concerned, learned advocates for the corporation submit that the drive is in progress,” the order reads. The civic body is learnt to have started drives in that area to stop the use of fossil fuel and help the stall owners shift to alternative fuels.