The Supreme Court has reimposed the complete ban on pollution-causing religious activities, like Chhath Puja and ‘havan’, within the Rabindra Sarobar Lake premises in Kolkata.

Environmentalists like Subhas Datta and others have called it a landmark order, given Sarobar is designated a waterbody of national importance. It acts as the green lungs of south Kolkata and is known to be a home to migratory birds.

The March 19 order of the Supreme Court, by a bench comprising Justices Sanjib Khanna and Dipankar Datta, restores the validity of the National Green Tribunal’s order passed in November 2017, thus, effectively cancelling out the same body’s May 2023 order that had allowed ‘havan’ within the green expanse.

“The court feels that once a religious activity gets permission to be practised, others would follow suit and the national lake would be damaged beyond repair,” said environment activist Subhas Datta, on whose petition the apex court passed the order.