The one-acre pond off Cornfield Road was gradually being filled up by a powerful developer over the past eight months. Locals smelled a rat and informed Kolkata Municipal Corporation. They claimed that several bighas of the pond have already been filled up. But it took some prodding on the part of actor Swarup Dutta to convince the civic authorities that they needed to take up the issue if the pond was to be saved.

Taking a tour of the pond on Saturday afternoon, the mayor assured locals that the civic body would take every possible step to save the pond and restore it to its original condition. Later, talking to the media, Bhattacharya said an attempt would be made to beautify the pond. "I have examined the pond. Going by its present condition, we can say that it
was being filled up," he said. The mayor has also assured that KMC would make an effort to beautify the pond at its own expense.

KMC member mayor-in-council (environment) Sushil Sharma said KMC would serve a notice to stop the filling work immediately. "Whoever tries to fill up the pond will face imprisonment and heavy penalty," he added. Sharma said after publishing the legal notice, the civic body would take up the job of beautification.

The mayor, however, faced embarrassment when a group of people surrounded him and asked why KMC was taking so much time to take over the pond for beautification. A section of locals alleged that the civic officials had turned a blind eye while the pond was being filled up during the past eight months.