A barricaded green of the Calcutta Ladies’ Golf Club that is set to host a tournament featuring some of the country’s top women golfers within a month and a half of Sunday’s rally. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

The country’s only ladies’ golf club has petitioned Lalbazar and Fort William to save its fairways from the collective assault of a million feet on Sunday.

With just a 15-metre road separating its nine-hole course on the Maidan from the main rally arena, the Calcutta Ladies Golf Club is worried that the Left Front’s show of strength might spoil its plans to host some of the country’s top women golfers for the Gold Cup sometime in March.

“It takes lot of effort, dedication and money to prepare the greens. The grass has to be sown carefully and then you need regular nurturing. A rally on the Brigade Parade Ground invariably ruins the course. We have urged the police and the army to help us,” the club’s acting captain, Minakshi Chanda, told Metro.

The Chinese lawn grass used on the course apparently takes weeks of nurturing to become a velvet cover. “The ground has to be prepared with sand and after sowing the grass strands, you have to water the patches at least twice every day. After putting in so much effort, it is heartbreaking to find chullahs on the course and the table-top littered with filth, including chicken feathers,” said a senior member of the club, set up in 1891.

Senior officers of the army’s eastern command and the police headquarters confirmed receiving a letter each from the club, requesting them to prevent a pillage of the greens.

“We have already asked our men to be vigilant and stop the Sunday rally crowd from trampling the golf course,” said an officer in Lalbazar.

The army has conveyed the club’s request to the Left Front leadership.

“We had stressed the need to shield the golf course during our joint inspection of the Maidan with CPM leaders. We hope the rally won’t be like previous ones,” said Col. Debasish Mitra of the eastern command.

The CPM has issued a list of dos and don’ts for cadres but it doesn’t mention the golf club.

Niranjan Chatterjee, a CPM leader overseeing preparations for the rally, made light of the ladies’ golf club’s request to the army and the police to save the course.

“We have not been approached by any club. These club members talk to you, not us. If the club members want to participate in the rally, we will welcome them. If they want to eat, we will even provide them food,” Chatterjee said.

The high court banned cooking in the open within 3km of Victoria Memorial in 2007, but that hasn’t stopped any party or organisation from turning the fairways into a giant kitchen and parking zone during every rally.

“As on previous occasions, there won’t be any toilets for the lakhs who will converge on the Maidan. How can you save the greens?” green activist Subhas Dutta wondered.

Vandana Agarwal, among the top 10 women golfers in the country, said the city would earn a bad name if Sunday’s rally were to spoil the course ahead of the Gold Cup. “It’s simple. If the greens are not in the best shape, the tournament gets a bad name,” she added.

The ladies’ golf club has produced several top players over the years, including Manavi Halwasiya. This year, a team led by Soma Ray was the toast of the Upper Assam Open Amateur Golf Championships.