Kolkata: Even as construction work at the park opposite the Shakespeare Sarani Police Station continued unabated on Saturday, green activists questioned the KMC's right to forfeit the maintenance of a public property to private organisations and allow the felling of full-grown trees for beautification.
Nearly a dozen full-grown trees were hacked down and many more smaller plants were uprooted to redesign McPherson Square, now called Rana Pratap Udyan, which, until eight months ago, had lush green foliage. Now, the park resembles a construction site, with a mixer machine spewing out concrete, debris piled up in places, and a payloader levelling the earth to pave the way for a concrete jogging track.
KMC officials said the park was given to Dhanuka Dhanseri Foundation for beautification and upkeep.
Asked if the civic parks and squares department took permission from the forest department to cut down trees, an official said, "We may have given permission to cut a couple of trees but not more. We will check it on Monday and visit the site." But Dhunseri Group chairman C K Dhanuka claimed the vendor they appointed to carry out the landscaping and beautification of the park acted after a nod from the civic body.
"When there is any development, there will be some loss of trees.
But when we complete the park, this will be one of the best in the city," he said, adding the KMC needed to clarify the matter on loss of greenery.
Green action group PUBLIC's co-founder Pradeep Kakkar, who lodged a complaint at the Shakespeare Sarani PS after the contractor at the park was unable to furnish the forest department's permission to cut down trees, questioned how could decades-old, full-grown trees be pulled down in the name of beautification, that, too, in a park.
"The city's parks have been entrusted with KMC for upkeep. How can trees be destroyed? There are instances in which the KMC constructs an important infrastructure project, like a pumping station in a park, and then carries out compensatory plantation elsewhere.
Here, trees have been hacked to carry out beautification. If manicured parks mean destruction of greenery, we do not want such beautification," he said.
Debasish Kumar, MMiC (parks and gardens), said he would find out whether the agency engaged for beautification had permission to chop down trees. "Even if they managed to obtain necessary permission for felling trees, it has to be seen how many trees they have cut down, and how many of them were legally done and how many illegally. We may take action if the agency is found guilty," Kumar said.