From the scrap book :: 12 :: Sacrificing trees for development

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A tree near Minto Hall felled and being cut

About a year ago a staggering item of news came from no place other than the capital of the country that for re-development of seven south Delhi residential colonies as many as 14000 trees were to be cut down. Virulent protests were launched by the people of Delhi against the intention of the authorities to cut the unconscionably large number of trees. They felt if things were allowed to go on in the manner proposed by the government authorities Delhi soon would be converted into a desert town.

Among the seven colonies to be redeveloped were Sarojini Nagar, Netaji Nagar and Nauroji Nagar, etc. All these colonies had houses for lower level officials of the government departments of the Central and Delhi governments. The plan for redevelopment of Nauroji Nagar was most curious. It was planned to demolish all the buildings and erect a massive World Trade Centre. It was a bizarre idea to deprive the lower level officials of their houses calling them decrepit and old and build in their place a swanky new World Trade Centre. Fortunately the protests gathered strength and managed to catch the attention of the Housing & Urban Affairs minister who swept the proposal aside and ordered a redesign of the project and ordered no more trees would be felled. But by the time the orders came more than 1500 tree had been felled. The minister was helped in taking the decision because of the extraordinarily large number of trees, 44000, that were permitted to be felled by Delhi’s Tree Authority during the preceding seven years. Currently the whole matter is pending in courts.

If last year it was Delhi this year it is Mumbai in the news for a proposal to fell 2700 trees in a forested area in Aarey. The proposal is to clear the trees to create a stable for Metro cars. Ever since the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation Tree Authority gave permission to fell 2700 trees the “Save Aarey” campaign gathered traction. The Brihanmumbai Metro Rail Corporation has been claiming that the area to be clear-felled does not fall in a forest area but the protesters argue that even though the area falls under the Goregaon suburb of Mumbai and has not been declared as a forest the literature documenting the characteristics of the ecosystem in indicates that it can undoubtedly qualify as a forest.

Before 2018 Aarey was a “no-development zone” but this status was later changed by the Maharashtra government. The matter went to court which said that while the government had the right to change the land-use of public lands it was still bound to meet conditions to ensure safety of the environment. Nonetheless, the issue whether it is a forest or not is still pending before the Bombay High Court.

There have been some studies to determine whether Aarey is a forest. As early as 1963 a study revealed hundreds of species of flora that were found only in a forest. Dr. Rajendra Shinde, now principal of St. Xavier College, Mumbai, published a study to determine whether Aarey could be described as a forest on the basis of its flora. More than 100 indigenous species in Aarey are recognized as forest species which have survived only by self-propagation. Some other species found in Aarey are never found outside forests. The study concluded by saying that Aarey falls within the “botanical” definition of forests.

Apart from flora the forests that are contiguous to the Sanjay Gandhi National Park also has fauna. While BMRC claimed the forests in question were bereft of wildlife naturalists produced a photograph of a leopard on the site. If leopards are there, small game would also be there as without a prey base predators cannot survive in the kind of numbers they are found in the forest.

From all evidence the Aarey forests are forests whether declared as such or not. Since the Mumbai activists have cited alternatives that, if used, would not cause any environmental damage, there are enough reasons for the Metro Rail Corporation to look elsewhere for building its metro cars depot. Quite clearly the Aarey forest needs to be left alone. After all it has taken ages to become what it is today.

People in metro towns too are so concerned about the environment that quite frequently news-breaks reveal protestations against the mulish administration. However in Bhopal, a town that has speedily lost its green cover, there have been no protests for felling of trees by the Smart City Corporation.  Though the Smart City Corporation has been at work for nearly three years, if not more, there is no sign of the smart city till now. But trees have been felled probably to the tune of around 3000. What’s more there have been no protests. People of Bhopal had vehemently protested when the Smart City was going to be sited in Shivaji Nagar. When the location was shifted, it seems, people lost steam and the Smart City Corporation felled trees without let or hindrance.

Similarly the Minto Hall redevelopment by the MP Tourism Development Corporation has taken its toll. The bank of the Lower Lake has been denuded of trees and the place looks so bare. But not a soul raised his voice. That is the way it is in Bhopal – every man for himself.

Bhopal Notes :: 68 :: Felling of roadside trees

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A tree-lined street of Nanking, China

A recent report in a local newspaper said that the local administration is all set to cut down about 3000 trees for widening of two roads. The proposal is to create two roads of six lanes each one of which would be a link for the smart city that is coming up in a part of the town.

Some substantial time has elapsed since the report appeared in the vernacular press but there seems to be no sign of any people’s resistance to the decision. In Delhi people got together a couple of years ago and protested when the administration was going to chop around 14000 trees for redevelopment of some South Delhi colonies. The government eventually had to back off. Bhopal too has a history of such protests. In order to maintain the green ambiance. People came out on the streets and protested against the decision to create a smart city in Shivaji Nagar which is blessed with a tremendous amount of greenery. The government saw the protesters’ point and moved the smart city away from Shivaji Nagar.

 This time, however, there is no movement from people’s side although Bhopal has lost enormous number of trees in recent times. At one time it had 60-odd percent of its area covered by trees. The same has now come down to around 11% and is likely to plummet to a measly 4% in the next few years. How that is going to impact the city’s micro-climate can only be imagined in the context of rising global temperatures. Last summer was one of the hottest and, devoid of ample greenery, the city is likely to become a furnace.

The city planners do not seem to ever consider factoring in of the climatic impact that their proposals would have. In the name of smart city already a few hundred trees have been sacrificed. A few more are likely to be sacrificed as the project jogs along.

 The Smart City Administration is in the process of creating what are reported as “boulevard streets”. The Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries define a boulevard as a wide street in a city usually lined with trees. Thus, firstly, the word “street” is redundant when used with the word boulevard because bouleward means a street that is wider than other urban streets. The second requirement is that these are usually lined with trees. A recent, presumably, aerial photograph that appeared in one of the newspapers of a boulevard in the city showed absolute absence of trees while the streets that were not boulevards were green. Obviously the Smart City organization has not thought of planting trees on both sides of the proposed boulevards. Even if they do not consider it mandatory they should plant trees on these roads that are likely to be important for the city. Such a step would be aesthetically sound and environmentally useful

Somehow the civic authorities have become indifferent to roadside trees. While building the now generally-condemned BRTS corridor thousands of trees were felled and a very few old ones were translocated. The latter, however, did not survive for want of expertise or care or both. I recall once the then Municipal Commissioner made an astounding statement in this regard. He said compensatory plantation for trees felled on the roadsides had been done on a hill outside the city. I recall having visited the site along with Late Shri Arun Pandya and some other members of the Bhopal Citizens’ Forum. That the compensatory plantation so far away from the city roads where the trees were axed was no compensation at all never ever seemed to have occurred to the municipal authorities.

Besides, as Pradeep Krishen, a well known naturalist who has written a book on the trees of Delhi, says compensatory afforestation is a fraud played on people. He said the process is gone through in a “naam ke vaste” manner. According to him, “People including the forest department are just evading it. Officials do not go and check on the plantation and they do not bother to educate themselves either. Characteristics of forests change all the time which means it is important for forest officials to visit plantations regularly but in India the Forest Department does not know what its role is”.

That may be so but the fact is that for urban people trees are more beneficial on the roadside than in far-away plantations. There are distinctive benefits of roadside trees like:

Trees capture dust particles; trees reduce greenhouse effect, roadside trees hinder noise pollution; they promote biodiversity, they prevent surface run-off and foster urban bird life. The roadside trees can also act as wind-break and prevent erosion.

 These are a few obvious benefits apart from those that make urban life pleasant and aesthetic. That they also act as shelter from sun and rain need hardly be mentioned.

It is said that the erstwhile rulers always used to plan roads and trees along them together. This is apparent from what one sees in New Delhi. The Britishers meticulously chose trees to be planted along the various roads of Lutyen’s Delhi and that is precisely why today’s central Delhi is so green. Things are quite different in the colonies that came up later.      

I, for one, feel that there should be concerted opposition to felling of trees on the roadsides and there should be general demand for planting trees along all the roads for the benefits of this much-ravaged town.   

Trees are not dispensable

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When things reach an edge Delhi’s civil society comes together to rally and protest for public causes. In 2011 the rampant corruption in the Manmohan Singh government threw up a Gandhian Anna Hazare who was agitating in Maharashtra for years against local corruption and then came to Delhi with support of various civil society leaders. He evoked tremendous response in his protracted agitation, including a prolonged fast, supported by unorganized members of public, forced the government to assure that his main demand of creation of a Lok Pal would soon be met by suitable legislative action. That, however, turned out to be ruse as a Lok Pal is yet to be appointed. The movement, however, gave birth to Aam Aadmi Party which has been ruling in Delhi with a rather scratchy performance for around four years.

Again in December 2012 when “Nirbhaya”, a young girl, a physiotherapy intern, was brutally raped and physically abused by the staff of a commuter bus which eventually led to her untimely death the civil society of Delhi again rallied round for greater safety of women on Delhi streets. It forced the government to enact a series of stringent anti-rape laws. The laws may not have reduced the incidence of rapes but the civil society’s rallies and demands in unison sensitized the administrations of the entire country against such horrendous crimes against women. On account of that unrelenting movement the accused in the Nirbhaya case have since been awarded death penalty.

Now once more, as the wellbeing of people of Delhi has been threatened by the proposal to cut down as many as 14000 trees for the so-called re-development of quite a few South Delhi residential colonies, including Sarojini Nagar, Netaji Nagar and Nauroji Nagar, they came out in strength to strongly protest against the decision of the government. The protests were so strong, especially because of the rising pollution and temperature in Delhi that the government had to back off. The court and the National Green Tribunal, where the matter had been taken, imposed a stay on further cutting down of trees. The Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs ordered that no tree would be cut and asked for redesign of re-development plans of the long-established colonies. Such is the power of the civil society when it chooses to rise in protest. One wonders what kind of planners have been engaged who seem to have been oblivious of the current extremely high level of pollution in the city and have suggested felling of as many as 14000 trees existing in these colonies for decades. This after the Delhi Forest Department indiscriminately allowed massive tree-felling in Delhi.

Something obviously is wrong with the Forest Department of Delhi Administration. Reports indicate that in the last seven years it has given permission to fell more than 44000 trees and now it had again permitted felling of as many as 14000 trees for the so-called redevelopment of South Delhi colonies. The officers of the Department seem to have lost all sense of proportion. Whenever proposals are sent to it for felling of large number of trees they impose only token cuts allowing large-scale felling. They have displayed utter apathy towards the health and wellbeing of the citizens of Delhi and their environment. One imagines their mechanical way of functioning, unless checked, will convert Delhi into a desert in not too distant future. Besides, the City is already highly polluted with PM-10 and PM 2.5 levels way beyond normal. Such massive tree-felling operations will greatly enhance atmospheric pollution. The City’s citizens are already choking and with so many trees gone they would be exposed to untold health hazards.

It seems, none ever pays attention to the welfare of the citizens – neither the government environmental conservation agencies nor the bureaucrats or city planners. They are only interested in building concrete jungles replacing all greenery. Their argument that compensatory plantation will be carried out has proven to be only a ruse. Besides, saplings cannot be substituted for full grown decades-old tall trees with widely spread–out canopies. It is only the canopies which intercept the particulates and also provide shade to the commuters walking on the hot asphalt in summers.

In accordance with rules, for every tree cut down ten need to be planted. Often so much of land is not available in and around the site of the cut-down tree. The compensatory plantation is thus carried out wherever land is available which is generally in the outskirts of the city. This does not help in any way the localities where mass-scale tree-felling is undertaken. Besides, authorities often do not plant native trees; they go in for decorative or ornamental trees which are of little help in conserving the environment. Compensatory plantation is actually perpetration of a fraud on the people. A rate of survival of 30% of planted trees is considered good but generally only 10% survive. Pradip Krishen, author of Trees of Delhi, a strenuous study conducted by him, says “the concept of compensatory plantation is fundamentally flawed. The land has poor quality soil – the reason why it is vacant in the first place. And the agencies are interested only in meeting targets.” The forest departments’ business is to protect forests and trees. They do not pursue compensatory plantation with due diligence and yet they indulge in large-scale felling of trees.

Translocation of trees, a practice that is being bandied about, is also not very successful. The success ratio has been poor in trans-locating fully grown trees with their entire ecosystems of parasites, insects and animals mainly because of lack of adaptability in many accompanying organisms and unfamiliar as well as strange, sometimes even hostile, ecosystems of the new surroundings. Besides, removal of a fully grown tree from its moorings inflicts a severe shock on it which alone sometimes is cause of its end.

Though already a few thousand trees have been felled in some of the ear-marked colonies yet Delhi’s environment has been saved for the time being. Now that the Minister concerned himself has taken matters in his own hands the redevelopment projects are likely to get drastically modified. Credit has to be given to the civil society of the city which did not take the decisions of the authorities lying down. They rose up in protest and forced the authorities to re-examine their decision.

Numerous other cities are not as lucky as their civil societies seldom rise against local decisions that hurt their interests. But in places like Bhopal severe protests by civil society forced the government to trash the builder-oriented City Development Plan 2005. Likewise, in 2015 widespread protests forced the government to change the site of the smart city as thousands o trees were to be felled destroying green ambiance of the city. Nonetheless, urban areas need to draw a lesson from Delhi and ensure that their health and wellbeing is given priority over the dreaded word “vikas” and hence whenever there is a confrontation between the two they have to stand for their own interests. There can be no trade-off between development and environment.

*Photo from internet of cluster of tree in highly urbanised Chicago

Bhopal Notes :: 59 :: Indian style development is enemy of greenery

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The local Smart City establishment seems to be seriously at work. Passing by, I happened to see that in south TT Nagar around half a century old low-rise residential government houses meant for the lower-level employees of the state government are being demolished. It is a very unpleasant sight.

One can quite imagine, with the demolitions numerous worlds have been destroyed and many of the inmates who spent a lifetime in these buildings were forcibly removed. They surely would have gone kicking screaming. After all, for years and perhaps decades these constituted their worlds. Here they married, had children, brought them up and launched them in the wide world to fend for themselves. They had developed their roots here that had gone deep during the long decades they spent here and uprooting them from their moorings would seem to be so cruel. But then, as Tennyson had said “Old order changeth, yielding place to new”, howsoever painful, a change has to come about replacing the old “order. And this change is mostly for that much bandied word “vikas” (development), which surely would not be of those who were removed from their hearths and homes.

It is a depressing sight. But in the depressing environment something stands out and captures your attention. Numerous trees – full grown and healthy – are standing next to the demolished homes. They seem to be there forlorn and in splendid isolation as they are bereft of their human company. These were not the trees that were planted by the civic bodies; these were planted, nurtured and cared for by the inmates who peopled the neighbouring now-demolished houses. Both of them had developed a symbiotic relationship of mutual benefit and mutual dependence. That relationship has suddenly snapped.

Perhaps, these have been left standing because of the backlash of the earlier effort of the administration to create a smart city at Shivaji Nagar after destroying hundreds and thousands of trees. That iconic image of Dr. Balwapuri of Red Cross Hospital in close embrace with fat trunk of a tree promptly comes to mind. The proposal to build the smart city there was given up mainly due to protests of the stakeholders of the entire neighbourhood. Only time will tell whether the trees of the South TT Nagar are going to be as lucky as those that escaped the axe in Shivaji Nagar. One has a hunch that they are going to meet the same fate as meted out to those which were felled to bring up Gammon India’s “Drishti” complex, charitably called “Central Business District”. Perhaps, the axes and bulldozers are waiting for the necessary clearance.

I say this because the city administrators are very ”axe-happy”. Despite the repeated reports of the city being rapidly divested of its greenery a big swathe of land along the Lower Lake has been cleared by felling a pretty dense assemblage of trees. This seems to have been done under the project of conversion of Minto Hall complex into a starred hotel and convention centre. The trees have been sacrificed for widening the road that runs along the Lower Lake and, perhaps, will provide access to the proposed convention centre. With two accesses for the Minto Hall complex already available the need for widening the road seems incomprehensible.

In any project the trees are the first casualties. Even the area next to the approach of the bungalow of the Mayor near Karbala quite a few trees have been felled for reasons that are still unknown. The place was green and cool with a good, dense undergrowth. But no, the axes wee wielded and the place looks so bare now. One wonders at the casualness of the officialdom and its penchant for taking such decisions that are harmful for the people.

Again, a proposal that was presumed to be dead is being revived. The proposal for construction of a guest house and few residences for MLAs was killed earlier about three years ago as it involved in felling of thousands of trees in or near the MLAs rest house complex. The protests put a stop to the project but before that a thousand trees had already been felled. The same proposal is being revived and the Speaker is reportedly pursuing the matter. On the last occasion some people had pointed out that there was hardly any need for new residences for MLAs as on bifurcation of the state a substantial number of them have now gone away to Chhattisgarh. But none is probably prepared to pay heed to any counter comment for the reason MLAs are the government and in the pre-election year the administration will also want to keep them happy.

Hence, with one project or another trees in the town are being sacrificed. None seems to think that trees are supportive of life and wellbeing, more so in these days of heavy air pollution and scarcity of water. Surprisingly the civic bodies that are entrusted with the duty of creating clean and healthy spaces for people are the worst defaulters. They seem to have sworn to divest the city of all its greenery leaving the citizens to contend with the rise in air pollution that fosters diseases and death as also unconscionable rise in temperature making the once-salubrious city unlivable.

They apparently are ignorant of the various researches that have shown how valuable a city’s greenery is. A new research, results of which have been published in the journal Ecological Modelling, indicates how much money trees can save for a city. After studying 10 megacities around the world and taking into account air pollution, storm water, building energy, and carbon emissions, the researchers found that trees have an economic benefit of about $505 million every year. Researchers from State University of New York College of Environmental Science & Forestry and Parthenope University of Naples found that trees are worth $1.2 million per square kilometer or $35 per capita.

But in India none probably cares – more so in the states and their municipalities. In the case of Bhopal, the local civic body and also the local government have been unmindful of the impacts of their actions to add more cement and concrete structures in the city. They have scarcely reacted on the repeated reports of tumbling greenery of the city. Besides, they have been singularly unsuccessful in taking care of what was received by them as inheritance in the shape of natural and man-made assets from their feudal predecessors. In fact, they have tried to destroy most of it, chasing a mirage, as it were, of development and progress.

*photo from internet

Bhopal Notes :: 50 :: Disappearing trees of Bhopal

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I have already written about one of the more significant statements of Murati Bapu, the Hindu religious leader who goes about giving religious and ethical discourses drawn mainly from Hindu epics. In another of his well-attended talks he was reported to have said that needless felling of trees is like killing a “sadhu” (a saint or an ascetic). He said that in the epic “Ram Charit Manas” saints have been said to be like trees, rivers, hills, etc. because, basically, they are benevolent, charitable, munificent and kind. They only do good to everybody and to everything in the physical world. They do not take away anything  from anybody and being beneficent they only hand out means of sustenance to the world. That is why he says that cutting down a tree is like killing something which is beneficial to us or something which is a do-gooder for everybody.

It seems, he had chosen just about the right venue for talking about felling of trees. Here in Bhopal the government and its agencies like the municipal corporation are ‘axe-happy’ in the same manner as people can sometimes be trigger-happy. On the slightest provocation they will go and bring down trees. They hardly ever think of saving a tree. Bhopal has lost enormous number of trees during the last decade or so.

Thousands of trees in the city were felled for the BRTS corridor which, as expected, has not lived up to its declared intentions of easing out the traffic mess in the city. Trees were felled for laying the Narmada pipeline to improve the water supply in the town. This too has not lived up to its announced objective as only recently it was in the news that despite water being brought all the way from Narmada some areas of the city still suffer from water shortages. Then for the laying of the third railway track between Bina and Bhopal a few more thousand trees in and around the city were cut down. A news item recently said that about 800 more trees are needed to be eliminated before completion of the project. Then, of course, there are usual felling of trees for widening of city roads and limitless urban expansion that the city has witnessed. During implementation of these projects no one ever thought of saving even the trees that could well stand wherever they were or relocating those which were decades old with a huge canopy hosting myriad species.

No wonder, a recent news report came out with a startling fact. It said that Bhopal’s green cover has shrunk from 66% to 22% in two decades. This discovery has been made as a result of a study undertaken by the reputed institution, the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (IISc), and the newspaper called its findings “Bhopal’s dark truth”. The study predicts that by 2018 the tree cover will shrink to 11% of the city’s area and by 2030 it will be a mere 4.10%. The study was reported to have been conducted by satellite borne sensors which compared images over decades and modelled past and future growth to determine rate of growth of urbanization in cities.

These figures prove that the city has progressively been denuded of trees by unplanned urbanization. Expansion of the city has taken its toll on the surrounding green hills and neighbouring farmlands. The city, in the process, lost its equable climate that was most suited for elders like yours truly. It was devoid of the extremes of temperatures, both in summers and in winters. While in summers it would not be as hot as, say, Gwalior; during winters it would not be as severely cold as Delhi. All that has been lost because of the mindless felling of trees in the pursuit of expansion and development. Our own home-based environmentalist, Subhash C, Pandey says “If I relate my study of rise in temperature to 8% in 12 years where the parametres were the same” the predicted shrinkage in tree cover to 11% “though shocking, is very much possible”.

This catastrophic situation has come about because of the environmental illiteracy of the local politicians and the bureaucracy, utter lack of foresight and the proclivity among them to make a quick buck by opening up the city for a construction spree. While colonies after new colonies were being sanctioned nobody seems to have bothered to insist on the builders to save the trees and plant trees around the built-up areas to compensate for the lost greenery. In the government there was only one Late Mahesh Buch who ‘greened’ the entire Arera Hill after the 74 Bungalows were built. Others never seemed to have bothered though they went on sanctioning opening up of more and more areas in the surrounding hills, farmlands and valleys for construction. The government must have had all the information about the disaster the town would face in the wake of unrestrained colonization of virgin hills and green valleys. It has an environmental think tank in the shape of Environmental Planning and Coordination Organisation (EPCO) and yet none seemed to have bothered.

The findings of the Indian Institute of Science cannot be taken lightly. After all, many of the effects of tree-loss in a massive scale are already perceptible. The city is already facing extreme heat in summers and the last winter too was extraordinary. But the government seems to be unconcerned. The IIsc report came out in the last week of last March but so far there has been no reaction.  No one expects any reaction from the local Municipal Corporation which is always ready with axes in the hands of its employees but are not worried or aware of the consequences of their actions. But the environmental department of the government should have reacted and at least said that the report would be examined for action. The government departments are, however, notorious for allowing various important reports pending for long periods. The example of the report of the Centre for Environment Planning and Technology (CEPT) is already before the people of the city. Nothing can really move the government. So, quite evidently it is business as usual – preemptive steps, if any, can wait till the city becomes an arid desert.

Surely, everybody in the government knows the consequences of shrinking tree cover. Not only there will be rise in temperature, there will also be water shortages. Even the ground water levels are likely to dip to precarious levels due to absence of trees. The rise in demand for energy would increase atmospheric pollution. And then the scourge of air pollution will take over with dry dust being freely blown around by the breeze carrying pm10 and pm2.5 right into the lungs of the citizens.

Murari Bapu may not have mentioned them but there are immense benefits that the trees bestow on humanity. An internet site has enumerated top 22 benefits of a tree some of the important ones being : trees clean air, they provide oxygen, trees conserve energy, they also cool the streets and the city, trees save water and prevent water pollution, they help prevent soil erosion, they provide a canopy and habitat for wildlife and, above all, they combat climate change.

One wonders whether those in the government would pay heed and act on what the IISc study revealed and stop felling of trees by enacting a law and plant as many trees as possible. The chief minister had announced two years back that a crore of trees would be planted in the city. Nobody knows whether that announcement was really followed up by action. This year he has raised the number to two crores to be planted along the banks of Narmada. Perhaps that too will also remain as an announcement.

In the absence of any official action one is inclined to think that only a strong civil society movement can force the government to take remedial action. One recalls the movement 2015 which forced the government to change the site for the proposed smart city. The movement was centred around cutting down of the green cover of Shivaji Nagar. Some such movement would make the government to see reason.

*Photo from tnternet of a magnanimous tree

15th April 2017

Bhopal Notes - 24 :: "Smart City" and trees

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It was heartening to see this morning the informal organizations in Bhopal have uniting and collectively deciding to oppose building o the proposed “Smart City” in Shivaji Nagar and Tulsi Nagar area. There have been lots of write-ups in the vernacular press,m interviews of the affected residents and enumeration of the environmental consequences. Surprisingly, the English language press has displayed indifference to the matter. Perhaps they do not wish to be on the wrong side of the government. Nonetheless, the government seems to have had a rethink and is undertaking a survey and a count of trees.

For quite some time I have been insisting that building the proposed “Smart City” in the Shivaji Nagar and Tulsi Nagar area would adversely impact their micro-climate in particular and the climate of Bhopal in general. I have been saying that just like the Central Business District (CBD)that is coming up in place of the erstwhile South TT Nagar has raised the temperature of the area the proposed “Smart City” (PSC) would also raise the local ambient temperature. A local newspaper has now confirmed and has shown how the hot season temperatures vary in the town from area to area depending on existence or absence of trees.

People’s Samachar, a Hindi daily has gone and done an empirical study by recording the day temperatures in several areas including the CBD and PSC area. The study has found a difference of at least three degrees, i.e. while the CBD recorded 41⁰ C the temperature in Shivaji Nagar was 38⁰ C at more or less the same time. To further prove the point, the study found the Hamidia Road area as hot as the CBD. Here too, as the newspaper said, one wouldn’t find a tree even if one conducted an intense search.

The city and its surroundings have lost enormous number of trees in the last few years not only because of the ever-expanding urban sprawl but various projects that have been executed in the city and around it. The CBD, BRTS and the Narmada Water projects have caused felling of thousands of trees very close to or inside the town. Now one finds that the laying the third railway line from Bina to Bhopal has also resulted in elimination of thousands of trees, mostly close to the town. Likewise, despite a strict no no, construction work in the catchment area of the Upper Lake has also not ceased. The government is the biggest defaulter in this regard. It is because of their apathy (or was it ignorance?) the Sports Authority of India, Sair Sapata, the Jagaran University and other such institution came up in the catchments of the Lake sacrificing numerous trees and farmlands.

Then there is a building spree and more and more hills, valleys, farmlands and forests are being progressively gobbled up. What is more, every year the property fairs are held by builders under the benign support of the government. It would seem that a ceaseless building activity for construction of residential complexes is being undertaken for which permission is apparently given with great felicity. Of course, some time the permission is not even sought and the buildings come up which is why we get a lsge number of unauthorized colonies. The net result is that the city has expanded so much that from some areas it takes as much as an hour or more to reach the local airport. Is it this kind of development (vikas) the government is looking for? If such activities do not stop in quick time Bhopal, which has already lost its reputation of being equable in climate and sizzles in the hot season as, say, Gwalior will soon lose its underground water reserves. Most of the new colonies depend only on sub-soil water. Without any insistence on water-harvesting depletion of the reserves will be sooner than later. With trees gone at the current rate Bhopal would soon turn into a Marathwada town – water-scarce with resultant acute human misery.

One tends to wonder as to why the Bhopal authorities in the municipality and the government do not appreciate the role of trees and the ecological services they render. THE ECOLOGICAL SERVICES THEY PROVIDE FOR FREE ARE 1) REDUCED AIR POLLUTION, 2) STORM WATER CONTROL PREVENTING SURFACE RUN-OFF, 3) CARBON STORAGE, 4) IMPROVED WATER QUALITY 5) REDUCED ENERGY CONSUMPTION AND 6) POSITIVE EFFECT ON HUMAN PSYCHE. BESIDES, ACCORDING TO THE US DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION, ONE HUNDRED TREES REMOVE 53 TONS OF CARBON DIOXIDE AND 430 POUNDS OF OTHER AIR POLLUTANTS PER YEAR, ONE HUNDRED MATURE TREES CATCH ABOUT 139,000 GALLONS OF RAINWATER PER YEAR AND STRATEGICALLY PLACED TREES SAVE UP TO 56% ON ANNUAL AIR-CONDITIONING COSTS. BESIDES, ONE HEALTHY PUBLIC TREE IN ITS 20TH YEAR AFTER PLANTING PROVIDES $96 IN BENEFITS AND ONLY COSTS $36, FOR AN ANNUAL NET BENEFIT OF $60. ONE HUNDRED HEALTHY YARD TREES OVER 40 YEARS PROVIDE $364,000 IN BENEFITS AND ONLY COST $92,000, FOR A 40-YEAR NET BENEFIT OF $272,000. ONE HUNDRED HEALTHY PUBLIC TREES OVER 40 YEARS PROVIDE $380,000 IN BENEFITS AND ONLY COST $148,000, FOR A 40-YEAR NET BENEFIT OF $232,000. 

The contention of the government that by creating the “Smart City” it is going unlock the value of the government land is, therefore, fallacious. The land with tree cover has been contributing to a great extent to the people and will continue to do so if left undisturbed by way of the ecosystem services. To my mind, it would be suicidal to chop the trees which are our “Natural Capital”.

Today, the buzz-word is “vikas” and it has become a fetish. Whether people like it or not, whether it would be beneficial for them or not it would be rammed down their throats. Every project, good or bad, brings a lot of benefits for those in authority who promote them. I am in complete agreement with RK Raghavan, the former Director CBI, when he recently said that nothing – whether a civil project or defence procurement project – in the government moves unless politicians and bureaucrats are bribed. Such a thing seems to have happened with the Gammon Project when rumours were rife that a huge sum of money was paid by the firm to politicians.

One suspects that the same is the case with the “Smart City” project. The stakes, apparently, are huge for those who are pushing it.

*Photo: from internet

Bhopal Notes - 23 :: "Smart City" Bhopal

IT IS TIME TO PLANT TREES, NOT TO CUT THEM DOWN

http://www.bagchiblog.blogspot.com

Link Road No.1, Bhopal

The other day, while moving towards the Tin Shed area I happened to notice a dense green cover adjoining the property being developed by Gammon India Ltd. This area has a pretty large number of government houses built soon after Bhopal was made the capital of the new state of Madhya Pradesh. As happens in our villages, the farming communities plant trees – mostly big and shady ones – next to their homestead to get some shade to block the scorching sun. Likewise as Bhopal is known for its strong sun in summer as also during the second summer around the month of October, every household, apparently, had/has planted such trees. In the surrounding bright, hot and blinding sun it appeared an oasis of coolth. Whatever trees that were there before the colony came up must have been axed to build the low-rise sprawling complex of government quarters. The spread of green too, therefore, is extensive. Most of the trees that have a large canopy should be around half a century old. And take it from me, all this greenery was not because of the initiatives of the government; it was largely a private and individual effort which made the colony green. Every succeeding generation of occupants enjoyed the fruits of what their predecessors had planted and added to the greenery if the need for that was felt.

Passing by I recalled that a similar green oasis used to be where the Gammons are building the Central Business District. That area too had a sprawling low-rise colony that was known as South TT Nagar. It also had massive trees which also should have been of the same age as the ones I saw the other day. The colony was wiped out and the trees were not only cut down, they were also killed by being administered some kind of chemicals. Some of us from the Bhopal Citizens Forum along with others who were equally concerned had even protested at the trees being mercilessly felled. But the stakes for the politicians were reportedly very high and none paid any attention to what the affected people had to say. Their protests were too weak. Gammon India had assured that it would plant as many trees as it had felled. Not one seems to have been planted so far. Curiously, none is keen to pull up the private corporate house for its failure. It seems to be above the law. The entire area of the Apex Bank Square looks stark and devoid of any greenery. No wonder, the temperature measuring digital contraption located close to Apex Bank Square registers the ambient temperature always ai least 1⁰ Celsius higher than what one finds elsewhere on the Link Rood No 1.

A similar fate is going to overwhelm one of the greenest areas of the city when Shivaji Nagar and Tulsi Nagar are converted into a “Smart City”. The government servants who are located there have already been told to vacate their respective houses to enable their demolition.  People are restive and are anxious as uprooting themselves from their hearths and homes where they have spent decades is always heart-wrenching. Besides suitable houses on rent are not only scarce, they are also expensive with rents touching the skies. The government has held out promises that they would be provided government houses or would be located in rented accommodation with rents being paid by the newly created “Smart City” executive body. But there is always a huge gap between what government promises and what it does. The situation seems to be still in doldrums and is slowly evolving. The government seems to be retreating from the deadline of 30^th June for vacation of houses. But the affected people continue to suffer from the pangs of uncertainties.

But that is not what I wanted to put across really. What I wanted to emphasise was the loss of greenery in that greenest of green areas of Bhopal. Although the authorities have been claiming that they will undertake minimal tree-felling, but I for one cannot take them on their word. The governmental or public agencies are merciless in tree-felling and very, very tardy in tree-planting. There is no one in the current administration who could emulate Late Mr. SN Mehta Chairman of MP electricity Board in the 1960s who built a township in Korba felling minimum number of trees keeping the majestic teak trees standing even the compounds of bungalows.

THE PROSPECTS, THEREFORE, SEEM FRIGHTFUL AS THE CITY IS LIKELY TO WITNESS A RISE IN TEMPERATURE BY A DEGREE OR TWO. ALREADY, REPORTS HAVE APPEARED THAT WHILE 2015 WAS THE WARMEST YEAR IN RECORDED HUMAN HISTORY, 2016 HAS BROKEN ALL RECORDS WITHIN THE FIRST FOUR MONTHS. THE MERCURY IS RISING ALL OVER THE WORLD AT AN UNPRECEDENTED RATE. IN THIS KIND OF GLOBAL WARMING DROUGHTS ARE GOING TO BE THE ORDER OF THE DAY. 

We are in the midst of one of the worst droughts ever in which, according to the latest reports, as many as 50% of the country’s people are seriously affected. Marathwada is, of course, in the vortex of it all. When climate change is giving unmistakable signals and droughts are staring us in our face it would be highly insensitive of the government to destroy the greenery of Shivaji Nagar and Tulsi Nagar. The need of the hour would seem to be to take care not to fell even one tree but to plant more and more trees wherever possible and try and calm the runaway climate that seems to have broken all bounds. Smart cities can happen elsewhere where no sacrifice would need to be made in the shape of greenery. The city already has witnessed sacrifice of large number of trees for the Narmada Water and BRTS projects without any perceptible benefits to the people. Bhopal Citizens’ Forum has suggested the Ban Ganga area where hardly any tree would need to be felled and a smart city erected there would also help in rehabilitation of jhuggi dwellers. If the value lying locked up in government quarters need to be unlocked, Ban Ganga area would eminently fit the bill as a huge area is also being unproductively used

The government should not stand on prestige and stand firm by their decision howsoever flawed and manipulated it might be. It must think of the people and the impact of their actions on them. The proposed smart city is nothing but an invitation to drought and consequential depletion of the city’s underground water reserves. One expects the government to take steps to meet the serious threat posed by climate change. It is not an imagined threat any longer; it is for real. Today it has severely hit Marathwada tomorrow it could hit us in the heart of India. Instead of destroying the greenery and creating a heat-radiating glass and concrete jungle the government needs to think of facing the calamity looming in front. If not for the sake of the Planet Earth, at least for the sake of people of Bhopal the government needs to reconsider their decision to bring up a smart city in the way it has decided to do.

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*Photo from internet