Kolkata, February 23 Noting that the West Bengal government was unable to handle mass agitations that were obstructing the demolition of over 500 illegal constructions in the East Kolkata wetlands, the Calcutta High Court on Monday said it was considering deploying paramilitary forces to carry out the task.
The high court stated that despite earlier directions to remove unauthorized constructions in the illegally-filled wetlands, the authorities had yet to demolish them.
Noting that the state authorities were claiming helplessness in demolishing the illegal constructions on the former water bodies that fall under the East Kolkata wetlands, Justice Amrita Sinha said, "The court is considering deploying paramilitary forces to carry out this task."
The court asked the petitioner to include the Union of India as a party respondent, and fixed the matter for further hearing on March 16.
The East Kolkata Wetlands, located on the eastern fringes of Kolkata and covering an area of 12,500 hectares, are one of the largest assemblages of sewage-fed fish ponds, according to the website of the EKW management authority.
The East Kolkata Wetlands Management Authority (EKWMA), entrusted with the statutory responsibility for the conservation and management of the EKW area, is a government agency under the West Bengal government.
A visibly exasperated Justice Sinha stated that despite reports submitted by the authorities in the court, there was no visible progress in restoring the wetlands.
"I do not want any further reports; I want action to be taken on the ground," Justice Sinha said.
The court, noting that there are more than 500 illegal constructions in the area spanning the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and South 24 Parganas district jurisdictions, asked what was being done about demolishing these and restoring the wetlands.
When the EKWMA lawyer stated that multiple orders had been passed stating that these were illegal constructions, the court said that these orders needed to be implemented by demolishing the unauthorized constructions.
While noting that the EKWMA authority had brought to the court's attention their lack of infrastructure to deal with such unauthorized constructions, Justice Sinha said that any illegal construction within the EKWMA area must be demolished.
She noted that the authority had also stated that they were unable to handle mass agitations when steps were taken to disconnect electricity connections to the illegal constructions.
Justice Sinha said that although the court had previously held that the EKW, where large areas of wetlands have been illegally filled and unauthorized constructions have appeared, should be restored, this has not yet happened.
Representing the petitioner, senior advocate Bikash Bhattacharya submitted that illegal constructions were continuing by filling up the East Kolkata Wetlands, putting the fragile ecological balance at risk.
He requested that the East Kolkata Wetlands authorities file a report as to what steps they had taken in response to the court's directions.
The EKWMA authority's lawyer stated before the court that, according to the latest report submitted by it, power supply company CESC, Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and the Kolkata Police's Kasba police station were requested for a joint inspection of the area in December 2025.
It was stated that nobody from the KMC turned up for the said joint inspection.
The EKWMA lawyer stated that due to mass agitation in the area, electricity connections to the illegal constructions could not be disconnected.