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| Trees in Shogun's garden, Kyoto |
Look at these Japanese and see how concerned they are about trees. The
officials of JICA (the Japanese International Cooperation Agency) who are going
to be in Bhopal in regard to the local Metro project have enquired whether
there are any trees standing on its proposed route. They have probably heard
about the opposition to the Bhopal Municipal Corporation’s proposal to chop the
trees that are standing in the area on which a smart city is proposed to be
built. Hence the query.
Japanese take great care of their
trees – whether in parks or on roadsides or anywhere. I recall having seen
during a fortnight’s stay in Tokyo long back in 1982 how they would carefully
ensure that the roadside trees branched off from a pre-determined height. They
would wrap the tree from its bottom up to the desired height with heavy-duty
ropes to ensure branching off from a pre-determined height. So if one stood on
the pavement and looked down the street one would find all the roadside trees
not only branching off from the same height, they also ar more or less of the
same height. Careful pruning from the top ensures that. The ropes are removed
once the trees grow to their full height. Japanese aesthetics after all is well
known.
In their gardens also they are very particular about placement of beds,
ponds, fountains and trees. These are constantly nurtured by care-givers. They
have gardens for various purposes, such as, for meditation, for strolling or
for conducting tea ceremonies. They have, therefore, converted gardening into an
art wherein landscaping is an integral part. I have had the good fortune to go
around the garden in Shogun’s palace in Kyoto and have had occasion to see how
meticulously they maintain gardens. Trees and gardens, quite obviously, are
considered natural capital by them and hence they take great care of them
We, on the other hand, don’t care
much for trees, gardens or parks, especially those that are supposed to be
taken care of by public agencies. We are an ‘axe-happy’ lot and we do not think
twice before hacking down a tree even if it is full-grown fruit or flower
bearing one. I am sure the Japanese who are visiting Bhopal would collapse in a
fit if they happen to see some of our vacant spaces with some shrubbery around
which we call public parks.
If they hear that we don’t think much of chopping down as many as 4000
trees to build an utopian smart city, perhaps, they would jump into the Upper
Lake. Nowhere this kind of apathy for nature is witnessed as in this country. I
recall having seen hundreds of trees felled and lying by the side of the
highway from Nagpur to Jabalpur. The highway is getting two more lanes one each
on either side but I did not see any pressure of traffic needing four-laning of
the highway sacrificing hundreds of tall well-built precious CP teak trees. But
that is our way and we perhaps can never change. It is all for the sake of “vikas” but no one knows whose “vikas” – certainly not of the people at
large. Yet, it is surely for contractors, sundry officials and politicians.
The query of the visiting Japanese needs to be taken seriously by the
BMC commissioner and Collector. It should lead them and others involved in the
smart city project to appreciate that felling so many trees for a civil
construction which possibly could be done elsewhere without harming the
environment will be an abominable act and certainly will not win laurels for
them.
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