Sunny Park: Residents of Sunny Park have reacted strongly to the statements of a houseowner in the Ballygunge locality claiming he had not felled more than two trees on his plot.
The Calcutta Municipal Corporation filed an FIR on June 26, reported by Metro on June 27, against unnamed persons for felling trees at 3/1 Sunny Park.
A civic engineer had said three trees had been felled. Bhavesh Mazumdar, who owns the plot, had said only two trees had been felled after they had been damaged by squalls.
A group of residents from Sunny Park have questioned Mazumdar's claims. The residents, represented by P. Roy, president, Sunny Park Apartment Owners' Association, said several facts pointed out that Mazumdar's claims could be contested. Many trees had been felled.
The balcony of Roy's 7th floor flat in Sunny Park Apartment offers a full view of the 3/1 Sunny Park plot. Roy said he had been witness to the plot being cleared of its "thick, forest-like growth of trees" in the last month or so, reportedly without any permission from the authorities.
"At least 15 old, sturdy trees were felled. The 75-cottah plot was green. Now, it is bald," Roy said.
From Roy's balcony, the plot does look bald - with trees only on its fringes, the middle cleared. Two trucks carrying sacks are parked on the rectangular concrete patch where once stood a Bauhaus-style house, built in the 40s. The house was demolished in 2014.
"The trees could not have been damaged by a squall. If it were so, how come no other tree standing close to the felled ones bore any sign of damage?" Roy asked.
He also questioned the logic of the FIR filed by the CMC. "Why is the FIR against unnamed persons? How can the CMC not know who the owner of the plot is?"
The residents feel that the depletion of the green cover in the plot is not a private matter - it affects the neighbourhood. The trees were home to numerous birds of many varieties. If a structure has to be built, it has to be built without the environment suffering, they argue.
The compensatory planting of five saplings for every tree felled may not be adequate, they feel. Where is the assurance that the saplings planted will grow into trees?
From 2011, since a proposal to build a 29-storey flat on the plot came up, residents of Sunny Park have been protesting. The residents had approached several government officials, including the chief minister, to stop the building.
The civic body did not approve of the plan. The residents had commissioned the architecture firm headed by architect I.M. Asthana, also a resident of Sunny Park Apartments, to conduct a survey on the impact of the high-rise coming up.
The survey found the environment would be affected on these grounds: fire hazard, traffic congestion, ground water depletion, increased waterlogging, noise and air pollution and overloaded sewage system.
The residents objected to Mazumdar's view in the Metro report on June 27 that he felt "dragged backward" as a Bengali developer. "I wanted to build an apartment building and establish myself as a Bengali developer. I was dragged backward." This is a parochial view, the residents felt.
