A 'legal wand' is needed to restore the city's eco-friendly reputation.
Concretization is fatal for green zone
Kere Manjunath ಕೆರೆ ಮಂಜುನಾಥ್
Bengaluru: It is always said that Bangalore, which was famous as a garden city and an air-conditioned city, will be brought back to the same condition. Plans are also made. But implementation is limited to concretization only.
Hundreds of crores are spent annually on the development of lakes and gardens. In projects to save and grow the environment, millions of saplings are planted every year, which is limited to publication. Because, if so many lakh saplings were planted every year, the city would have been full of trees.
Further, tens of crores are being spent on the development of each lake. Here more attention is being given to concrete construction instead of allowing for biodiversity. In the past, there was nothing else except that the lake was used as a connecting bridge. Now concrete is being used for the walking track around the lake. Crores are being spent on the construction of buildings and high-tech facilities. However, there are no facilities for birds and animals in the lakes which are a place of biodiversity. There is no space for trees.
A civil engineer is the standard for the development of a lake, while eco-friendly facilities are negligible. This also applies to gardens. Furniture is preferred over trees in gardens. Citizens allege that neither the government nor the politicians have any hindsight in cutting trees and planting them.
A lot of work needs to be done in pollution control. The task is to measure air and water pollution and publish it. Responsibility should be assigned to this board, which has been limited to this for so many years. If there is any kind of pollution, the board should be held responsible for it. Such an expectation needs the official seal of the government. Otherwise, environmental activists demand that there should be an order by law.
Environmental impact assessment should be mandatory
Bangalore's urbanization has had a significant impact on biodiversity. Uncontrolled real estate growth and development of overconcretization in infrastructure such as roads have affected the environment. The Bangalore Development Authority is converting land in villages around the city into barangays to accommodate the growing population. Large-scale infrastructure projects such as road widening, metro rail and new flyovers are also contributing to habitat loss. These projects involve cutting down trees and loss of green cover, mostly affecting animals and birds.
Lakes, gardens and trees are critical to the sustainable growth of the city and its population. While housing and other infrastructure are needed, sustainable development is needed to mitigate micro climate change. Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) should be mandatory for all upcoming and current projects to ensure that we regain the Garden City title that we have lost in the name of development. A master plan should be developed continuously every year. List the ward-wise land-use changes in the city and help create a people-friendly climate.
Vinod Jacob, Chief Manager, Namma Bangalore Foundation
Development should not be life-threatening
Bangalore has forgotten the environment in the fast pace of development and people's representatives are giving more preference to concrete. Marking the boundaries of the city in four directions, giving importance to water and clean air and showing the important lesson of making it a garden city is again studied and implemented with interest and earnestness but Bendakalur will become a decrepit city. Otherwise tomorrow the next generation will curse us. The Vrishabhavati River has gone without a name and has become Kengeri Mori. Thousands of lakes in the river basins have been destroyed, the extinct lakes are filled with sewage and the smell of disaster is spreading everywhere. Lined with wooden roads, the cold memory is gone.
Emphasis should be placed on maintaining the urban forests, redeveloping the royal canals and filling the lakes with fresh water. Like recovery. When new barangays are built in the outer zones of the city, 50 percent of the budget should be forest. There are ten popular ways to reduce traffic congestion and need to be implemented. Environmental Management and Control Boards should stop the works which are harmful to the environment. Life is only if there is life. Development should not be life-threatening.
Dr. T.J. Renuka Prasad, Emeritus Professor of Geology, Bangalore University
The creation of heat islands is fatal
Lakes in the city are being developed at a cost of hundreds of crores and are being built as thermal islands. Instead of fostering biodiversity, concretization is increasing. There is no standard for the development of lakes. A technical approval committee consisting of environmental experts i.e. geologists, hydrologists, limnologists, toxicologists and civil engineers is essential. The Karnataka Lake Conservation and Development Authority should take steps to implement what is approved here. All should be empowered to run under the supervision of this authority.
No lake development work shall be undertaken without a Detailed Plan Report (DPR) and approval of the Technical Approval Committee. There should be a system where all these details are freely available to citizens through a website. Justice N.K. According to the Patil report, district and state level lake committees should be formed and responsible for monitoring. No concrete development including road and flyover should take place in the lake and buffer zone. To reduce the temperature in Bangalore, the environment has to be preserved. Instead of showing everything in the book, only eco-friendly developments should be undertaken.
Ramprasad, Friends of Lakes
ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಓದಲು ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಕ್ಲಿಕ್ ಮಾಡಿ...
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