Calcutta: The National Green Tribunal on Wednesday ordered introduction of an entry fee for visitors to the Rabindra Sarobar premises and a bar on all programmes in the zone after sundown.
Morning walkers will be exempt from the fee.
The tribunal also banned pujas, use of microphones and bursting of firecrackers around the 73-acre water body.
The Calcutta Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA), the custodian of Rabindra Sarobar, has been asked to prepare a plan on the use of the premises.
"The order means all kinds of social functions, which are usually held on the Sarobar premises in the evening, can no longer be held," said environment activist Subhas Dutta, on whose petition the eastern zonal bench of the tribunal, comprising Justice S.P. Wangdi and expert member P.C. Mishra, issued the ruling.
Dutta had submitted that the use of loudspeakers at the Rabindra Sarobar stadium during Indian Soccer League matches were harming the environment.
To assess the situation, the tribunal had formed a committee comprising representatives of the central and state pollution control boards, National Environmental Engineering Research Institute, West Bengal Biodiversity Board, Zoological Survey of India, Botanical Survey of India and Jadavpur University.
The panel recommended a series of steps in its report filed in April. The tribunal's order on Wednesday drew on the report.
The various clubs around the sprawling lake often organise parties in the evening or late at night. "Today's order will put an end to the culture," said a resident of Southern Avenue, off the water body.
The tribunal asked the CMDA to fix an entry fee for all visitors, except morning walkers. "Morning walkers will be issued photo identity cards. They will be able to enter the Sarobar compound without paying any fee by showing the cards," said Paushali Banerjee, a lawyer who represented the CMDA.
"All pujas, use of microphones and bursting of firecrackers have been banned. That means Chhath rituals can no longer be performed on the Sarobar premises," Dutta said.
