Green conflict

DEVELOPMENT has two sides, as Sudipto Sarkar of the People United for Better Living in Calcutta told the Calcutta High Court recently. The court is hearing a case against the proposed reclamation of eastern Calcutta's wetlands. The voluntary agency informed the court that the West Bengal government's idea to develop 784 acres of Calcutta's wetlands will result in employment for many people in and around the area. But it will simultaneously increase pollution, reduce the oxygen generated by these lands and deplete the fauna and flora. The case goes on.