KMC dept vetoes anti-pollution drive

KOLKATA: Combating air and sound pollution does not top the agenda of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation.
A Central proposal to fund the setting up of a cell for a round-the-year anti-pollution drive was reportedly rejected by the KMC health department, without even consulting the environment department.
A senior KMC official informed that the Union environment ministry had sent a letter expressing willingness to fund the setting up of an anti-pollution cell.However, despite being addressed to the environment department, the proposal letter landed up in the health department via the office of municipal commissioner Debasis Som.
Officer on special duty of the KMC health department, Atanu Mukherjee, summarily rejected the proposal, convinced that the health department had no infrastructure to conduct an anti-pollution drive. He sent a ‘regret letter’ to the ministry, where he wrote that the civic body was unable to take up the project, KMC health department sources said. When contacted later, Mukherjee, however, denied the entire episode. “If any letter was sent, it might have been sent to the municipal commissioner,� he said.
Asked about the Centre’s initiative, mayor-incouncil member overseeing the environment department, Pradip Ghosh, regretted he was not even consulted about the project. He said with the KMC environment department in a sorry state for want of funds, the Central proposal would have injected fresh life to the department. “It was a golden opportunity and could have contributed a lot towards monitoring the city’s pollution,� Ghosh said. He said he would demand punishment of the officer who had rejected the offer. “I will talk to the mayor and demand proper punishment once the guilt is proved,� he said.
According to KMC chief health officer Sujit Ghosh, the civic body would have been benefitted immensely. “We would have purchased much needed machinery like noise and air pollution sensors. A scientific officer and a few technical persons would have been enough to begin an anti-pollution drive, especially when the Centre was prepared to fund the project,� he said.