"Must Balance Public Interest With Protecting Ecology": Calcutta HC Declines Plea To Stop Metro Rail Construction In Maidan Area Over Uprooting Of Trees

The Calcutta High Court has declined a plea by the “People United For Better Living in Kolkata ” seeking to halt all construction work for a metro station to be constructed in Kolkata's Maidan area due to the uprooting of around 700 trees in the area adjoining Victoria Memorial.The petitioners sought to stop the Rail Vikas Nigam Limited from continuing. The Calcutta High Court has declined a plea by the “People United For Better Living in Kolkata ” seeking to halt all construction work for a metro station to be constructed in Kolkata's Maidan area due to the uprooting of around 700 trees in the area adjoining Victoria Memorial. The petitioners contended that from various news reports, they came to understand that 700 trees in the Maidan area are to be transplanted, 500 trees will have to be removed to make way for permanent structures and additionally 200 trees will be transplanted to allow movement of trailers and construction machinery like trains etc. It was argued that pursuant to an earlier order of the High Court, the RVNL had decided to make underground metro construction in the Maidan area although the cost of construction of an underground metro is five times more than the cost of elevated metro construction and inspite of that, Railway Board has agreed to change the scheme of metro construction from viaduct to underground to maintain ecology and skyline of Maidan area.