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It might be
recalled that three years ago the Times of India published a report on the
study conducted by the distinguished faculty of the Indian Institute of Science
(IISc), Bangalore, which undertook the same study simultaneously for three
other cities in addition to Bhopal. The study related to a span of two decades
during which the heaviest loss of tree cover was revealed in Bhopal – from 66%
to 22% of the city’s area – and it was predicted that it was likely to fall to
11% by 2018 and could have a sharper fall hitting around 4% by 2030. Other
cities that were studied were Kolkata, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. None of these
had a tree cover of 66% two decades ago – only Ahmedabad had 46% and it fell to
24%.
Environmentalists
of the city were shocked to see the ToI report. Some of them had made their own
assessments keeping for reference more or less the same parameters and felt
that the proposition of 11% tree cover by 2018 was entirely possible. A noted
environmentalist of the city Subhash C Pandey who is fighting to get back the
city’s green cover said that unplanned urbanization, encroachment of natural
water bodies in the city, depletion of ground and surface water show that the
plan of sustainable development has failed.
One wonders
whether there was any plan for development, more so, of sustainable development.
Concerned about the continuous loss of
tree cover in the city one is inclined to believe that the authorities
connected with maintenance of environmental balance of the city are ignorant of
the term “sustainable development”. Every action of the city administrators is
taken on an ad hoc basis without proper examination of the pros and cons. No
wonder, most of the decisions of the city administrators suffer from lack of
prudence or wisdom, adversely impacting the normal and healthy life of the
citizens.
Take for
instance the BRTS corridor which came up around a dozen years ago and continues
to be a work in progress. At the very initial stage, while defining the
corridor as many as 3000 huge old trees were felled. Some were attempted to be
translocated but for want of the necessary expertise coupled with proper
equipment many dug up trees died. This was the first major strike against the
greenery in the town. The uninformed commissioner of the municipal corporation
was satisfied with the action that his outfit took in greening a hill outside
the city forgetting that roadside trees offer their own advantage to the
citizens, particularly, by keeping the urban areas cool.
The second major
strike against the city’s greenery came by way of the development of a business
district by Gammon India Ltd., followed by the creation of a smart city in
Bhopal. The smart city organization opted for redevelopment instead of retrofitting and in the process a
few more thousands of trees were axed. This is not all; in the name of
development, urban sprawl was allowed to spread its wings all around the town
and no one knows how many trees were sacrificed for the sake of colonies that
were legitimate or illegitimate. Then , of course, there are isolated
developments like conversion of Minto Hall into a convention centre and a
starred hotel for which the dense growth of trees next to the Lower Lake was
destroyed. The authorities in this town are happy to remove greenery from wherever
they can, damaging the micro-climate of the town. Protests do take place but
these were effective only in one respect when the site of the smart city was
moved from Shivaji & Tulsi nagars saving axing of thousands of trees.
Many of the
environmentalists agree with the findings of the IISc as they too had studied
the problem keeping in view more or less the same parameters and had come to
the conclusion of a rise in temperature by 8 degrees Celsius in 12 years. Hence
one can only say that time is running out and the initiative of the
Commissioner, though comming as many as three years after the findings of the
IISc were published, came not a day too soon. We just do not have the luxury of
time with us and sooner the initiative is translated into action the better it
would be. Otherwise, the maximum temperature will in all probability hit close
to 50 degrees Celsius in not too distant future. Already, April 2019 is being
considered as hottest April in Bhopal with temperatures topping 40 degrees C
and nothing is more responsible for the city’s this predicament than felling of
large number of trees.
The Commissioner
has reportedly given the responsibility of planting around six lakh trees
inside the town to three entities including the Bhopal Municipal Corporation
and the Capital Projects Authority. One is aware how these civic bodies suffer
from inertia and how their functioning is lackadaisical. Their functioning in
this regard has to be monitored so that planting and nursing of the plants are
taken care of under tight supervision. Perhaps, the young minister of Urban
Administration & Development could evince interest in the matter making the
subordinates give all that they have towards a veritable war on progressively
heating once-salubrious Bhopal.
*Photo of a Khirni tree from internet
*Photo of a Khirni tree from internet
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