A project that is in accordance with the relevant statutes and does not create an ecological imbalance can be allowed to proceed, even if it involves the construction of an underground market in a public park.

1. CALCUTTA a sprawling metropolis has grown from the days of Job Charnak right upto the modern era in most unplanned haphard fashion. This metropolis in the truest sense of the term has seen through the process of time a gigantic growth of population By reason of this influx small open spaces attached to dwelling units do not exist any longer Multi-storied building like gigantic demons loom large on the streets of Calcutta. Environmental pollution has also reached such a state necessitating governmental intervention. Cry for a open space and for a fresh air breath are there from every part of this metropolitan city.

2. IT is against this background that this writ petition was filed before this Court in an attempt to stop the work of construction of an underground market at the Satya Narayan Park situated in one of the most thickly populated areas of the city, though upon due authorisation from the Municipal Corporation of Calcutta. Apart from the plea that the authorisation to construct an underground market by the Municipal Authority is utterly illegal and without any statutory sanction, M. Sankar Das Banerjee, appearing in support of the petition, strenuously contended that there would be a tremendous ecological imbalance in the event the work of construction is allowed to continue at the Satya Narayan Park. Before however dealing with the rival contentions, a brief reference as to the area in question ought to be made at this juncture. Satya Narayan Park has an area of about 20,000sq. ft. with about eight or ten big peepal trees apart from certain small ones and is situated in the heart of Barrabazar area which is the main business centre of this metropolis. Traffic is in an enormous state in the area in question. Free flow of traffic is an unusual sight even much beyond the business hours. Right round the Park small shop-lets are even now existing making it impossible for the pedestrians to use the footpath resulting in the use of the road by pedestrians, which in its turn adds a further clog onto the traffic problem. Open space in the area in question is thus an undoubtable requirement and cannot be disputed. Ecological imbalance also ought not to be ignored in the present day context.

3. THE word 'ecology comes from the Greek word 'oikos, meaning 'home' or 'estate' - hence, ecology is the study of the home, or how the household of nature is kept in order. Interestingly enough, althecology comes from the same root as our work "economics", the subject that we now call ecology was not given a name until a century later.

4. EVERY living thing is surrounded by materials and forces which constitute its environment and from which it must derive its needs. Contact with the environment is inescapable. Elements of Ecology : George L. Clarke. An ecological problem, in contrast, is a special type of social problem. To speak of a phenomenon as a 'social problem is not to suggest merely, or perhaps at all, that we do not understand how it comes about; it is labeled a problem not because, like a scientific problem, it presents an obstacle to our understanding of the world but rather because - consider alcoholism, crime, deaths on the road- we believe that our society would be better off without it.

5. THIS explains why the very existence of ecological problems is sometimes disputed. Even pollution, it is sometimes argued, is simply a price which has to be paid for the maintenance of a high standard of living. Developing countries are not deterred from industrial expansion by reflection that it would increase the level - or perhaps rather, alter the type - of pollution. Pollution is a cost they are prepared to meet-not, in their eyes, a problem.

6. IN a recent report published by the National Conference on environmental Planning and Pollution Control it appears that so far as the city of Calcutta taken as a whole is concerned, the pollution is at its minimal in Alipore, New Alipore and Salt Lake areas, whereas, there is an alarm