The filled-up portion of the wetland on Golf Club Road. (Dhrubo Mukerjee)

An environment activist was kicked and punched in the middle of Golf Club Road on Wednesday afternoon for protesting a blatant pond fill-up that enjoys the blessings of the local politician and police.

Around 100 people assaulted Dhrubo Mukerjee on the edge of the water body, which figures on the city’s civic map but whose existence an arm of the state government and the local Left councillor deny.

A Metro team accompanying Mukerjee witnessed the attack and bore some of the brunt. The reporter and photographer were abused, threatened and robbed of a camera chip that had pictures of the partially filled-up pond.

Calcutta Improvement Trust (CIT), ostensibly responsible for improving the city, is filling up the area between 14 and 17A Golf Club Road, in violation of a CMC directive.

“We have told the CIT not to fill up the water body,” said municipal commissioner Arnab Roy, referring to a letter written about a week ago. But residents complained that the fill-up has only gained momentum since then. “A pump is being used to drain out the water and trucks have been dumping mud and concrete rubble,” Mukerjee said.

Those who attacked him were said to be from the adjoining Jhora Basti, whose residents are to get 250sq ft flats on the land being filled.

CIT secretary J.K. Sadhukhan claimed initial findings showed “no water body in the area”. But how have aquatic plants sprung up in the area without a water body? Silence.

The CIT secretary conceded no work order had been issued. “A project can start without a work order only in the case of extreme and immediate public interest,” said an official.

With the polls near, some will say the slum project belongs to that category for the ruling combine, reeling under a string of electoral setbacks.

Jadavpur police station denied receiving any complaint about the fill-up, though Mukerjee showed a copy of the letter with its stamp.

Bonani Kakkar, with whose NGO, Public, Mukerjee is associated, said: “We encourage people to act for the environment but if this is the result, it is a shame.”

Councillor Setabuddin Khondeker of the RSP defended the landfill. “The slum dwellers had dug up the ditch to dump waste,” he said.