GREEN GROUSE: Spectators’ cars parked on the Maidan on February 8, when India took on Sri Lanka in an ODI at Eden Gardens. A Telegraph picture

First came the flak from the spectators for the washout of the February 8 India-Sri Lanka derby at Eden Gardens. Now, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has been delivered a googly by the state environment department.

Reminding the cricket body of the need to preserve the Maidan greens, environment secretary M.L. Meena has written to CAB president Prasun Mukherjee, asking what steps had been taken on or before the February 8 match to keep pollution under check.

Explaining the trigger — “a number of PILs were filed in the high court over the Maidan” — Meena has sought an “early reply” from the CAB president, who is also the commissioner of Calcutta Police.

Caught unawares at the sudden turn of events, Mukherjee apparently went into a huddle with chief secretary Amit Kiran Deb to draft a proper reply to the pollution poser.

“It is a matter between us and the environment department. Why create problems when there are none? We will reply to the letter,” Prasun Mukherjee told Metro.

Indiscriminate parking of cars on the Maidan has always been a prickly issue between the cricket body and the army, custodian of the patch of green in the heart of the city.

With Calcutta High Court barring the Book Fair on the Maidan on environmental grounds, the army authorities had objected to match spectators’ cars being parked on the Maidan. The green lobby had echoed the army’s demand.

“We had told Calcutta Police that we would not allow cars to be parked on the Maidan and suggested that they make alternative provisions on Strand Road,” said a Fort William officer.

As CAB president Mukherjee promised that parking on the Maidan would be allowed only for government and VIP cars with clubhouse tickets, the Army relented.

But according to estimates, around 1,500 to 2,000 cars were parked indiscriminately on the Maidan in front of the amphitheatre on February 8.

Aware that the environment department can get sucked into a legal battle over the issue, Meena has asked the CAB to “enlighten” him on the steps taken to “curb pollution” generated on the Maidan during the one-dayer.

“The letter is significant because the environment department has finally acknowledged that car parking on the Maidan causes temporary destruction of grass and also increases air pollution,” said a senior government officer.