Pedalling through wetlands that feed & cleanse the city
Pic: Anindya Saha
On World Biodiversity Day, Calcutta Times took the off-road bicycling trails of the East Kolkata Wetlands (EKW). We ventured on the trail with cyclists who frequent the e marshy fields and tree-laden groves, by the expansive water bodies – to rediscover the 'kidneys of Kolkata'.
It cleanses the city's wastewater naturally through its own ecosystem of ponds, algae and fish.
Kolkata is the only Indian metro to boast such a natural system – saving an approximate `500 crore per annum in the process (other metros, like Delhi, pay for wastewater treatment).
The wetlands, spread across 12,500 hectares, is an ecologically critical and biodiversity-rich ecosystem that also serves as a bicycling hotspot for a large section of the city's riders.
But this frail bubble needs better awareness – and the responsibility lies with us.
'Responsibility is key'
Wetland mornings see a fair share of recreational cyclists. The venue hosts a range of migratory bird species – which makes it a favourite haunt for birders, who gather around shallow ponds (bheris), mudflats or grassy embankments near Chinarpur, Bantala and Nalban.
All of this, however, needs to be handled responsibly.
Noise, littering, plastic waste – these are pollutants that elicit a strict no from environment organisations. 'While Ramsar recognition brought awareness, scientific interest and legal recognition to the EKW, it has not been sufficient to counteract the pressures of urbanisation and climate vulnerability,' said Sayantani Dutta of Jaladarsha Collective, an organisation dedicated to the preservation of waterbodies in and around Kolkata.
While there has been a rise in community groups and green NGOs conducting 'eco-cycling' tours to raise awareness from Khoriberia to Kheyadoho, ultimately, the onus to preserve the delicate balance of the EKW ecosystem is on us, as citizens.
Bicycles, the most important commute
Roads in and around the EKW are mostly unpaved — ideal for bikes, not cars. Bicycles act as the backbone of daily logistics in this delicate landscape.
This landscape, recognised as a Ramsar Site (Wetland of International Importance), is crucial to Kolkata's food security infrastructure. It supports over 20,000 local fisherfolk and farmers. Most of them use cycles to transport fresh fish and vegetables to local markets in Kolkata.
'Many local schoolchildren commute on cycles, keeping the carbon footprint low,' said Nobina Gupta, founder director of the Disappearing Dialogues Foundation.
With pukka roads comes the proliferation of auto-rickshaws, spewing noxious fumes. The Metro Railways, cutting through a part of the wetlands, pose another hazard in terms of noise, especially for crepuscular and nocturnal bird species.
EKW is also home to Indian Palm Squirrels, Fishing Cats and Indian Flapshell Turtles
Migratory birds sighted at EKW
Northern Pintail
Wood Sandpiper
Rosy Starling
Siberian Stonechat
Quotes:
Unregulated solid waste dumping has led to the water quality in the EKW being affected, with plastic pollution being a major threat to fish and aquatic plants – Sayantani Dutta, co-founder, Jaladarsha Collective
Development, if not sustainability-focused, is bound to pose an ecological hazard to the EKW's frail ecosystem – Nobina Gupta, founder director, Disappearing Dialogues FoundationEarly morning wetland views are absolutely breathtaking. It is a Kolkata not many have seen – Ritobrata Patra, cyclist
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Office Para Dalhousie
Once the most politically charged precinct east of Suez, Kolkata's Dalhousie Square — now officially BBD Bag — is a living relic. It was the cradle of modern Indian governance, the workshop of the British East India Company, and the epicentre of Bengal's revolutionary fervour. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now As the steel girders of the Mahakaran metro station pierce the subsoil of this historic heartland, and scaffolding wraps Writers' Buildings in a veil of future promise, the Square is slowly shifting its silhouette — from a colonial memoryscape to a dynamic urban commons. At the crossroads of nostalgia and necessity, Dalhousie Square stands at a unique moment in time. It is steeped in layered narratives — from the administrative architecture of the British Empire to revolutionary blood spilled in the name of freedom. Now, the future demands that it evolve into a space that not only honours its past but actively engages the civic life of contemporary Kolkata. "Dalhousie Square is not just a cluster of colonial-era buildings — it is the treasury of governance memories for all of modern south Asia," says Alapan Bandyopadhyay, former Bengal chief secretary and the current chairman of the Bengal Heritage Commission. Bandyopadhyay's relationship with the precinct is intimate. He spent long years working in the Writers' Buildings, the city's oldest and most symbolic secretariat. Its most iconic structure, the red-brick Writers' Buildings, is currently undergoing long-overdue restoration. Once the domain of the Company's "writers" — junior clerks — the edifice morphed into Bengal's administrative core through the 19th and 20th centuries. And yet, in its silent grandeur, it remained a watchtower of colonial nostalgia and an unwilling witness to post-Independence inertia. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now "Heritage must not remain fossilised in nostalgia," Bandyopadhyay insists. "The challenge is to reimagine this historical heart of Kolkata as a dynamic, democratic, and sustainable public space — a cultural and administrative commons where history coexists with contemporary urban life." For decades, Dalhousie Square served as the office para — the de facto central business district (CBD) of Kolkata. While the centrality of this function persists, the precinct today battles dilapidation, traffic chaos, visual clutter, and urban disconnection. The area that once housed India's first reserve bank (Currency Building, 1770), Asia's first hotel (Spence's, 1830), first elevator (Raj Bhawan, 1892), first telegraph line (1854), world's first fingerprint bureau (1897), and now, Asia's first underwater Metro, is being forced to ask itself difficult questions: What is the future of a CBD that still operates on 19th-century blueprints? Can nostalgia become an asset in urban revitalisation? "There is an urgent need to bring pedestrian friendliness, restore architectural harmony, declutter signage, and reactivate historic spaces for civic engagement," says urban planner Dipankar Sinha, former DG (Town Planning) of KMC. "We don't need to turn Dalhousie into a tourist trap, but we must make it a civic spectacle." Bandyopadhyay sees the opportunity as transformative. "In the years ahead, I envision Dalhousie Square as a seamless confluence of preservation and progress," he explains. "Restored heritage structures should house public institutions, museums, think tanks, cultural hubs, and quiet courtyards for civic interaction." If the future is subterranean, Dalhousie is already digging in. The Mahakaran metro station, being built just south of the Writers' Buildings, symbolises not just physical connectivity, but philosophical renewal. Kolkata's first under-river metro is not only an engineering feat but also a metaphor for linking eras — past, present, and future. And while the future promises a cleaned-up square, enhanced public transport, and restored facades, it must also reckon with the emotional landscape that Dalhousie inhabits in the hearts of its citizens. Kolkata has long been called the Capital of Nostalgia, and nowhere is this truer than at Dalhousie. Every forgotten corner here has hosted the arc of empire, revolution, and resistance. The square is more than a site of colonial governance; it was also the theatre of resistance. In 1930, three young revolutionaries — Benoy, Badal, and Dinesh — stormed the Writers' Buildings to assassinate a top British official. Their sacrifice lent BBD Bag its present name. Even earlier, the Rodda Arms Heist of 1914, in which Bengali nationalists stole German Mauser pistols in broad daylight, unfolded in the same alleys. In 1930, C A Tegart, then police commissioner, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt right here. The resistance embedded in Dalhousie's stones still whispers beneath the city's postcolonial calm. Today, a red sign for AG Bengal on the Treasury Building — the former site of Spence's Hotel — sits jarringly over intricate friezes. The room where C V Raman once worked lies unmarked. Even President Rajendra Prasad walked these corridors, now largely anonymous to passersby. Dalhousie's heritage is not just something to be protected; it's a brand, a potential urban identity. "Dalhousie has been left with memories," said Chandranath Chattopadhyay, a cultural commentator. "But that can be a compliment. If only we could reimagine these neighbourhoods, get the world to gawk at their romance, stay in our hotels, carry our stories home—we could turn memory into momentum." Dalhousie's future is more than architectural — it is psychological. For a city battling modernity on uncertain terms, Dalhousie offers a unique roadmap: how to remain old without becoming obsolete, said P K Mishra, an archaeologist who worked for long at Dalhousie. Making of Dalhousie Dalhousie Square's story begins with Job Charnock of the British East India Company, who set up a kuthi (factory) near the Hooghly banks in 1690. From this foothold, the Company built Fort William, established St Anne's Church, and gradually acquired the villages of Sutanuti, Govindapur, and Kalikata — laying the foundation of modern Calcutta British historian H E A Cotton described Dalhousie as the "pivot of the settlement" in 'Calcutta Old and New' (1909), noting its role as the nerve centre of governance, commerce, and communication. Over the years, the square became home to a stunning array of 'firsts' — Asia's first hotel (Spence's), elevator (Raj Bhawan), telegraph line, fingerprint bureau, and more The area also witnessed pivotal moments of political resistance: the Rodda Arms Heist, the Benoy-Badal-Dinesh attack on Writers' Buildings, and multiple assassination attempts on British officials Also known as BBD Bag, the square is undergoing a crucial transformation. As the past is restored and the future built underground, Dalhousie remains the beating heart of a city that remembers — and dreams|
Time of India
7 hours ago
- Time of India
THE WOMAN WHO CLIMBED DARKNESS
Logo: Times Specials Kullu: On the morning of May 19, as dawn lit up the Himalayas, Chhonzin Angmo stood on the summit of Mount Everest. There was no sweeping panorama for her. No view. No photograph. Just a blur of wind, cold, breathlessness — and tears. "I couldn't see anything," Angmo said. "But I could feel it. I was standing on the top of the world. That moment was unbelievable." In that moment, the 29-year-old from Himachal Pradesh, India, became the first visually impaired woman ever to summit Everest, and only the fifth person in history without sight to reach the peak. She had made it. Not despite her blindness — but through it. From the valley to the void Angmo was born in Chango, a remote Himalayan village sitting almost 3,000 metres above sea level, on the edge of the Spiti valley. She had perfect vision as a child, playing in the apple orchards and walking to school like any other. But one day, at the age of eight, something changed. "It was during her school examinations," said her older brother, Gopal. "The teacher noticed her handwriting had started slanting on the page. She said she couldn't see." Within days, Angmo was blind. Her family travelled hundreds of kilometres to doctors in Rampur, then to Delhi, Chandigarh and Patiala — but the cause was never identified, and the treatments never worked. The young girl spent years at home in silence. But silence never suited her. "She had this fire," said Tashi Dolma, the village head of Chango and a former schoolmate. "She was never going to accept being left behind. " Learning to move forward Angmo was enrolled eventually in the Mahabodhi Residential School for the visually impaired in Leh, Ladakh — more than 1,000 km from home. There, she learned Braille. She graduated. Then she left the mountains for Delhi, where she studied at Miranda House, one of India's top colleges for women. There, the mountains called her back. And this time, she answered in a way no one expected. Angmo took up adventure sport. She paraglided in Bir-Billing. She bicycled from Manali to Khardung La. She swam, ran marathons, played judo, scaled the Siachen Glacier, and summited Kang Yatse II and Kanamo Peak. She worked her way up to 20,000-foot climbs — blind. "After I lost my eyesight, Everest became my obsession," she said. "People tried to scare me. They said I'd die. But every time they said it, I became more determined." The final ascent Mount Everest is more than a climb. For Indian climbers, a guided expedition can cost upwards of ₹50 lakh. For a blind woman from a remote village, it's nearly impossible. Angmo knocked on many doors. Eventually, her employer —Union Bank of India — agreed to sponsor her expedition. She left Delhi on April 6. After flying to Lukla, she trekked to Everest Base Camp by April 18. For the next 26 days, she trained and acclimatised under the guidance of military veteran Romil Barthwal and two Sherpa guides, Dundu Sherpa and Gurung Maila. On May 15, the summit push began. Her biggest fear? Not altitude. Not fatigue. Crevasses. "I was terrified of the ladders. I couldn't walk across them, so I sat on them and crawled across on my hands," she said. Between Base Camp and Camp 4, she relied on trekking poles and the subtle shifts in body movements of climbers ahead to navigate. At times, she memorised terrain from a previous trek to Base Camp a year earlier. On May 18, she reached Camp 4. That night, at 7 pm, the team made their summit push. Top of the world Above 8,000 m lies the Death Zone, where oxygen is scarce and each step can take a minute. Angmo moved slowly, focusing on her breathing, her footing, her purpose. "At that altitude, every step hurts. I just kept repeating in my head: I'm not doing this just for me. I'm doing it for everyone who's ever been told they can't." By 8.30 am the next morning, she was there — at 8,849 m. The world's highest point. She couldn't see it. But she knew. "The wind was fierce. My Sherpas were telling me about the peaks below. I couldn't hold back my tears." Back to reality, eyes still shut—but wide open Today, Angmo lives alone in Delhi. She takes the metro to work, cooks her own meals, visits friends. But her story is far from over. "Everest isn't the end. It's the beginning," she said. "Next, I want to climb the Seven Summits." Her story adds a new chapter to global mountaineering history — and a proud page to India's. Graphic Blind Faith, High Point: Scaling the Invisible box1 Chhonzin Angmo's Road to Summit >> April 6 | Departs Delhi >> April 10 | Begins Everest Base Camp trek from Lukla >> April 18 | Reaches base camp; starts 26-day acclimatisation >> May 15 | Reaches Camp 1 >> May 16-18 | Climbs through Camps 2 to 4 >> May 19, 8.30 am | Reaches the summit of Mount Everest box 2 The famous 5: Everest's Sightless Pioneers >> Erik Weihenmayer (US) | First blind person to summit Everest (2001); completed Seven Summits >> Andy Holzer (Austria) | Summited Everest in 2017 via Tibet >> Zhang Hong (China) | First blind Asian climber to summit (2021) >> Lonnie Bedwell (US) | Blind Navy veteran summited in 2023 >> Chhonzin Angmo (India) | First blind woman to summit Everest (2025) box3 No Legs, But What A Feat! Other Indian physically challenged mountaineers:- >> Arunima Sinha | Second amputee in the world to summit Everest (2013) >> Chitrasen Sahu | Double amputee (called Half Human Robo); climbed Mt Elbrus and Kilimanjaro >> Uday Kumar | Amputee climber; scaled Kilimanjaro and Mt Rhenock >> Tinkesh Kaushik | First triple amputee to reach Everest base camp box 4 "To climb Everest, you don't just need strength. You need a reason," Angmo said. She found hers in the dark. And she carried it all the way to the top of the world. MSID:: 121547482 413 |
Time of India
7 hours ago
- Time of India
These woods are lovely, dark and deep
Adyar Poonga With a green cover around 10%, Chennai stands almost at the bottom of the list of cities in India. However, the number of urban forests and community driven initiatives is slowly but steadily going up, Dr M S Swaminathan Wetland Eco Park in Porur being the latest. On environment action month, here's a lowdown on some of the best urban forests of Chennai. NANMANGALAM RESERVE FOREST HIGHLIGHT | Rare insectivorous plants It is spread over 274ha across Tambaram, Alandur and Velachery. Once destroyed by extensive mining, the area was taken over by the Tamil Nadu forest department in the 1960s and restored, planting trees and allowing natural regeneration. 'Three ponds and seven abandoned quarries now collect rainwater for cattle and wildlife,' says forest range officer C Vidyapathi. 'You can spot the rare Eurasian eagle owl here, the only place in South India where it can be seen. ' The Pallikkaranai marshland nearby has waterbodies that attract migratory birds. 'It's the only forest in Chennai where insectivorous plants such as Drosera indica and ground orchids occur naturally,' says Jayashree Vencatesan of Care Earth Trust, an organisation engaged in biodiversity conservation. Check dams and percolation ponds have raised the water table in nearby residential areas. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Giao dịch CFD với công nghệ và tốc độ tốt hơn IC Markets Đăng ký Undo The forest also feeds three lakes. In 2019, 18ha of eucalyptus was cleared and replaced with native species, says Vidyapathi. 'Another 100 acres will be restored.' Status | Open; an ecopark is planned to promote forest conservation Entry | Permitted with forest department approval for birdwatching and nature walks KOTTURPURAM URBAN FOREST HIGHLIGHT | Community engagement This lush forest situated alongside the Adyar river next to the Kotturpuram bridge was once a massive waste dump. The public works department approached NGO Nizhal to help convert the 4.5 acres into an urban forest, and over 19 years, 1,000 trees and shrubs, including 250 varieties of indigenous species, were planted. 'There wasn't even a worm here, but now you can see Indian pitta, drongo, paradise flycatcher and congregations of flying foxes. A loyal group of volunteers help maintain the park,' says Shobha Menon, founder of Nizhal. The success of the Kotturpuram forest led to similar projects such as the Madhavaram Urban Forest in the Tanuvas area and Chitilapakkam Neer Vanam, both with more than 200 trees, and Thiruvanmiyur-Taramani Urban Forest on OMR, also built on a dump site. Status | Open Entry | Free: 6am-8am; 4pm 7pm GUINDY NATIONAL PARK HIGHLIGHT | Blackbucks Probably the only national park situated in a metropolitan area and where blackbuck, a Schedule-1 species, roam about undisturbed, the 270-acre patch of green is host to 350 plant species. 'We regularly remove invasive plants and plant indigenous grassland species for blackbuck,' says wildlife warden Manish Meena. 'Eucalyptus has also been replaced with native trees.' The park is so densely biodiverse with birds, mammals, reptiles, butterflies and insects that it has not been fully explored. The park has four types of ponds that fill during monsoons and recharge groundwater in nearby residential areas. 'But to protect flora and fauna, only educational and conservation tours are allowed in core areas with permission,' says Manish. Status | Open Entry | Allowed with the permission of the forest department ADYAR POONGA Highlight | Creek ecosystem The only urban forest in the city with a creek ecosystem, water spread was just 5% when restored in 2011 which has since increased 250%. The ongoing phase 2 facilitates more rainwater flow and includes mangrove planting. Over the years, second and third generation plantations have come up in the creek area, and the number of species has increased from 40 to 440. The recreational features that are part of the revamp, including a skywalk that 'leads nowhere' and the 5km concrete pathways have raised questions. But authorities say green cover will still occupy 75% of the area and visitor limits will remain at 100. Status | Closed for renovation WHAT CONSERVATIONISTS SAY: 'These are the only remnants of the original vegetation of Chennai. They can be equated to heritage sites and should be protected,' says Jayashree Vencatesan of Care Earth Trust. Urban areas need to help solve challenges such as water pollution, flooding and heat stress, says Jagdish Krishnaswamy, Indian Institute for Human Settlements in Bengaluru. 'Opportunities for some recreational and educational services can be planned later, rather than orienting the urban forests towards recreation and manicured spaces without thinking of biodiversity and ground-water recharge. '
