It’s Picnic Time

Winter is the best time to arrange a picnic. We see loads of buses running towards some nearby lovely spot to enjoy a whole day of fun and extracurricular activity. It’s the season to relax under the sun, with chilly gusts of wind blowing across. This winter, Kolkata is experiencing a record cold that has not happened in the last 10 years, as reported by the Met Department.

Hence, the Kolkatans have become all the more excited to pack their bags and head for some real-life adventure with friends and family. But, in many places, these picnic parties end up in creating a problem for the local residents. This has just what exactly has happened in the adjacent area to the Bethuadahari Forest, on an open area along the 34 number National Highway. Bethuadahari Forest lies in Nadia district and the place is frequented by tourists who come for picnic during the winter season.

The local inhabitants have complained about the immense noise that continuously comes from the sound boxes that the picnic parties bring with them. Along with this, large amounts of plastics and other garbage can be seen on the spot after the picnic gets over.

Bethuadahari Forest is a reserve forest and any kind of disturbance to the animals living there is strictly prohibited. But, instead of the cries of the animal lovers, NGOs and local residents, this has become a daily routine. People are seen cooking with gas stoves and kerosene just next to the forest, and all kinds of chitter-chatter and yelling sounds keeps on pouring from their precious music system.

In the Alipore Zoological Gardens, on the 25th of December, pictures were flashed of people eating on paper and plastic plates, and huge piles of plastic bags and packets lying here and there, making the place look all the more nasty and dirty.