Kolkata: Environmentalist Subhas Datta on Wednesday said he would file a contempt petition in Supreme Court if the state went ahead with plans to allow Chhath Puja at Rabindra Sarobar.The activist, whose PIL filed in Calcutta High Court in 2012 ultimately led to National Green Tribunal’s 2017 ruling banning Chhath Puja at the lake, said the earlier Trinamool Congress govt had challenged the NGT order in the apex court and lost.“That case has not been disposed of yet. Any attempt to defy the order will amount to contempt of court,” he said, adding that the gains made over the past six years, during which the health and biodiversity of Rabindra Sarobar had improved, would be lost if Chhath Puja was allowed. “Once you allow something, it will open the floodgates to other activities,” he said.Datta had filed the PIL in 2012, drawing the court’s attention to pollution in and around the lake. The petition sought to protect Rabindra Sarobar as a critical eco-sensitive urban wetland and biodiversity hotspot.The core issues raised in the litigation included banning religious and social functions and preventing commercial activities at the stadium that used high-decibel sound systems and massive floodlights, causing severe noise and light pollution that disrupted the nesting patterns of migratory birds and local wildlife.The case was later transferred to NGT in 2013-14. The tribunal allowed Chhath Puja at Rabindra Sarobar in 2016 with riders after govt pleaded that it did not have time to make alternative arrangements for the nearly 30,000 devotees who offered puja at the lake. When govt made the same plea the following year, NGT rejected it and issued a permanent ban.A feeble attempt was made to enforce the ban in 2018 by putting up padlocks, but they were forced open and Chhath Puja was held again, following which a contempt petition was filed. Though govt did enforce the ban thereafter, it made multiple attempts with petitions before NGT, Calcutta High Court and even Supreme Court to get the restriction lifted without success.“The TMC govt did not want to act, fearing it would affect its votebank. Then the pandemic happened in 2020 and provided an opportunity to implement the order that had the apex court and the high court sanction. Once a precedent was set, it was followed till last year. Now that the votebank has shifted to the BJP, the govt wants to demonstrate its appreciation by allowing Chhath,” said Sumita Banerjee, a green activist and regular visitor to the lake who was one of the petitioners who challenged the TMC govt’s failure to enforce the NGT order.Responding to minister Agnimitra Paul’s query on where local residents would offer Chhath Puja if not at the lake, Banerjee asked where the puja had been offered over the past seven years.“The minister also commented that Trinamool did politics with Chhath Puja and stopped it from being celebrated at Rabindra Sarobar. That is factually incorrect. It did not wish to stop the puja till its hand was forced,” Banerjee added.
