· 2006 – West Bengal Pollution Control Board (WBPCB) closed down 8 Mandarmani hotels, which came up on sea beach flouting coastal regulation zone act; nothing happened on ground
· 2007 – The state pollution appellate authority directed demolition order against the illegal hotels; nothing happened on ground
· 2008 – High court barred further construction in the area; nothing happened on ground
· 2008 – Environment department filed FIR against another 53 “upcoming units”; nothing happened on ground
· 2022 – state pollution control board directed immediate closure of 50 hotels in Mandarmani sea beach area; nothing happened on ground even after 10 days·
The tradition of throwing administrative and judicial orders into waste paper baskets continues in Mandarmani coastal area in east Medinipur; as not even one hotel at sea beach was made to close down by local administration since PCB directed closure of 50 hotels ‘with immediate effect’ on March 22 for running without obligatory clearance from the state board.
The March 22 directive, a copy of which is with The Plurals, mentioned that “the closure order will take immediate effect and the Officer-in- Charge, Mandarmani Coastal Police Station is directed to execute the closure against the listed units and submit the compliance report to the State Board within seven (07) days from the receipt of this memo”.
Forget about sending a compliance report, the official claimed that she is yet to receive the order from the state green watchdog. “I have not received any direction from the state pollution control board in this regard, and have no idea” said the officer in charge of Mandarmani police station to this correspondent on Saturday, even 10 days after the order was issued.
“I can only say that such orders are communicated immediately”, observed a PCB source.
“Considering the …noncompliance, the units located at Mandarmani sea beach area, dist – PurbaMedinipur are hereby directed by the Board not to operate with immediate effect” reads the state PCB recent directive, after it found that all these 50 hotels – units in PCB directive – were running without mandatory valid ‘consent to operate’ from the regulatory agency.
The PCB action was prompted by national green tribunal directives during last August and September where it directed PCB to see whether the hotels were running legally in the area or not and take appropriate actions.
Incidentally Mandarmani sea beach area has about 130 hotels running in violation of the coastal regulation zone (CRZ) act.
“All the hotels located in Mandarmani sea beach area fall within the high tide zone itself; and hence are completely illegal, according to the coastal regulation zone act” said Biswajit Mukherjee, retired chief law officer of state pollution control board.
“National Green Tribunal, in 2017, had asked us to give clearance to hotels which applied within a four-week window; accordingly, we provided consent to more than 50 hotels; rest were running without permission and hence we took actions against them after being directed by NGT recently”, confirmed the PCB sources.
“When I first visited Mandarmani in 2006, few illegal hotels were constructed. However, despite repeated orders from the PCB administration, as well as high court order for demolition; the number of illegal hotels have continued to spiral in the last 15 years, completely impacting the local ecosystem”, alleged Mukherjee.
Green activists alleged that the state environment department has failed to discharge its responsibility to save Mandarmani and similar ecologically fragile coastal areas. “The West Bengal state coastal zone management authority, under state environment department, is yet to clearly delineate the high tide line and even prepare the coastal zone management plan even though it was mandated by the 2019 notification” said Sasanka Deb from nonprofit Disha, which moved to court number of times on the issue.
Local fishing associations complained that the illegal hotels mushroomed in clear connivence with local administration prodded by politicians. “Unless there is a connivence how these illegal hotels have been thriving for so many years despite several government and judicial orders,” questioned DebasisShyamal, president of East Medinipurmotsojibi forum.
“Even in the case of the recent order closing 50 hotels, such connivance is clear as the administration is buying time for the hoteliers” alleged the member of the fishery association.
“I have not received the order yet, but we run the business maintaining all environment norms and have the clearance from the local panchayat”, claimed Debdulal Das Mahapatra, secretary of Mandarmani hoteliers association.
The tribunal is set to hear the case next on April 5.