The East Calcutta wetlands, that made it to the Ramsar list but was subsequently threatened with blacklisting by Wetlands International, is safe for now.

The move to redraw the East Calcutta wetlands map by some environment department officials has been halted by the executive body of the Calcutta Metropolitan Planning Committee (CMPC).

The map had been upheld by Justice Umesh Chandra Banerjee in a case involving non-governmental organisation PUBLIC and the state in 1992. It was more recently approved by Wetlands International while listing the wetlands as a Ramsar site, safeguarding it against the development lobby.

Once included in the list by Wetlands International, under a convention signed in 1971 in the Iranian city of Ramsar, no land-use is permissible in the waste-recycling region other than that which supports wetlands or wetlands-related practices.

The special committee for the East Calcutta wetlands had received a proposal from the environment department, pushing for changes in the existing map (as reported in Metro in November 2003).

The committee has finally decided to refer the contentious matter to the CMPC, which is determined not to allow any changes in the map that would allow the building lobby into the zone.

“We will do everything required to preserve the sanctity of the court order. The waste-recycling region will be protected,” said Asok Bhattacharya, chairman of the CMPC executive committee.

“Nobody should have any business changing the original map as approved by the judiciary. The region even finds mention in the land-use development control plan of CMDA and so there is no question of changing it,” added the minister in charge of urban development.

The 12,500-hectare waste-recycling region off the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass is vital to the city’s ecological well-being. The move to redraw the map approved by Wetlands International was viewed by the green lobby as tampering with the ecological character of the zone and playing into the hands of realtors.

The immediate threat to the wetlands may have passed, but there is no sign yet of the government’s management action plan.

This, despite the fact that the environment department had prepared a base document for the management plan way back in 1997. The government’s failure to implement this since the Ramsar listing in 2002 has allowed small-scale builders into the region.