STOP: Maidan mauled by rally

● At 26 lakh square metre, the Maidan is the city’s largest patch of green ● It is the city’s lungs, with 60% of the public green space ● The army is its custodian, with police responsible for law and order and PWD for the upkeep of the Maidan

The army has petitioned Calcutta High Court for complete custody of the Maidan and a blanket ban on political rallies by parties and organisations that have mauled the greens before.

The army’s strongest submission yet on the Maidan maintenance muddle — it is the “custodian” of the greens but police and PWD apparently call the shots — comes barely a month before a scheduled Left Front rally at the venue.

An affidavit submitted to the high court by army counsel R.N. Das on Friday accuses the police and the PWD of having “failed miserably” in fulfilling their responsibility towards the city’s lungs, insisting that the order to protect Victoria Memorial from pollution stands defeated every time permission is granted to hold a rally on the adjacent Maidan.

It suggests a blanket ban on rallies by “defaulting organisations/parties” as the best course of action along with stringent clauses that make it impossible for anybody to maul the greens and get away with it.

The affidavit seeks a separate order specifying what needs to be done if a rally on the Maidan becomes an “inescapable necessity”.

The recommendations include diversion of traffic, particularly heavy vehicles ferrying the rally participants, to a site “at least one kilometre away from all approach roads to Victoria Memorial Hall and Brigade Parade Ground” a day prior to the rally and until the second day after the event.

The affidavit also suggests that any party seeking permission to hold a rally should give an undertaking to both the police and the local military authorities that it will not violate the order issued by the high court on restoring the Maidan to its original state.

Green activist Subhash Dutta, the architect of the save-Maidan campaign that began with him filing a public interest litigation in 2001, said he couldn’t remember the army making “such strong statements in court against state government departments”.

“The allegations made by the army in the affidavit are absolutely correct and its recommendations for the upkeep of the Maidan need to be favourably considered,” Dutta told Metro.

According to the army, lax vigilance allows the rally brigade to maul the greens, park vehicles wherever they please and cook in open ovens — all in violation of the 2007 court order that bans such activity within a three-km radius of Victoria Memorial.

It also blames the PWD for the state of the Maidan, saying that “maintenance” — as specified in a December 2003 court order on who does what in the Brigade Parade Ground pecking order — has been almost non-existent all these years.

“The state respondents miserably failed to supervise and maintain the Brigade Parade Ground area, causing irreparable damage... the supervision and maintenance of the same (should) be handed over to the local military authority,” says the affidavit.

On the PWD’s role, the affidavit seeks a court directive that would make it mandatory for the department to “consider suggestions” made by the army regarding the maintenance of the Maidan and “take suitable actions”.

Public works minister Kshiti Goswami, whose department has been responsible for the upkeep of the Maidan since 2003, said he hadn’t seen the army’s petition but would take note of the complaints if they were “genuine”.

“If there has been any failure on our part, we will take the necessary corrective steps,” he added.