Bikramgarh jheel, which the CMC will re-excavate and beautify. A Telegraph picture

The Calcutta Municipal Corporation has decided to re-excavate and beautify the 120-bigha Bikramgarh Jheel, in south Calcutta. Work is set to start in May.

Around 70 bighas of the waterbody, on the northern side of Prince Ghulam Hussain Shah Road, are in urgent need of re-excavation, said an official in the civic body.

Municipal commissioner Alapan Bandyopadhyay has asked deputy chief municipal architect and town planner Anindya Karforma to prepare a blueprint for the project, which is likely to cost around Rs 2 crore. The civic authorities have already made an allotment of Rs 50 lakh.

Sources said this would be the “first major re-excavation and conservation” of a waterbody not owned by the civic body. The CMC took over the “management and control” of Bikramgarh Jheel last year, as no claimant turned up for its upkeep in response to a public notice issued by the civic body.

Officials said that during an aerial survey in 1979, the waterbody was found to be spread across 198 bighas.

Over the past 25 years, more than 75 bighas have been filled up illegally to construct around 200 houses.

Garages and shanties, too, have eaten up a significant portion of the jheel.

The PN Roy Committee, set up by the state pollution control board, had suggested in its report, submitted on May 18, 2006, that all types of human activities be banned on the waterbody. It had also called for its re-excavation.

“The report has even forced the Calcutta Improvement Trust to shelve its plan to lay a road by filling up part of the pond,” said a civic official.

“Bikramgarh Jheel is not just a waterbody. It is as significant to the ecology as any wetland,” explained Karforma. “The blueprint for re-excavation and restoration of the jheel will be prepared keeping this aspect in mind.”