From rxpgnews.com
Save trees campaign reaches chief minister's ears
By IANS,
Apr 9, 2007 - 6:51:36 PM
New Delhi, April 9 - A week after 'Trees for Delhi', a forum of citizens and environmentalists, took out a silent protest march to express their concern over the disappearing green cover of Delhi, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has invited them for a meeting Wednesday.
The forum, which is only six-months-old, has been raising alarm by initiating several campaigns, taking out peace protests, distributing flyers and staging plays, in a bid to sensitise people about the huge amount of deforestation that has been taking place in the capital.
The forum initiated a signature campaign about a month and a half back, which is still going on, and submitted a petition to Dikshit with the signatures of a 1,000 people.
The forum's main concern is the rampant destruction of trees for various constructions without any re-plantation.
'We are not against construction of roads, highways and buildings. But what we are asking is that does development always have to be so anti-greenery?' asks Nanni Singh, executive director of Trees for Delhi.
In the run-up to the meeting with the chief minister, the forum has carried out surveys of specific stretches of roads in south Delhi where the construction of the High Capacity Bus Service - corridor is underway.
The broad purpose of these audits is to uncover possible inaccuracy of the official tree count, whether some of these trees can be saved from the axe and what is the status of the re-plantation claims being made by officials.
Only 10.2 percent of Delhi's area comes under the green cover - way below the National Forest Policy's recommendation of 33 percent.
'One of the suggestions that we are putting forth to the chief minister is the inclusion of dedicated tree lanes in the road constructions. If there can be dedicated pedestrian lanes, then why not tree lanes? This problem has to be dealt at the root - at the planning stage of all constructions,' Singh told IANS.
Some of the other suggestions that the forum will put forth are stopping further felling of trees in the first phase of the HCBS route. An estimated 2,100 trees will be lost for this phase covering 14 km.
Demand for a complete detailed report of the number of trees lost over the last three years, the areas where they have been reforested, their species and their yearly survival rate, is also on the agenda. The body also wants an assurance that all future infrastructure development integrates existing trees and preferably enhances the number.
'The first phase of the metro had resulted in the removal of nearly 27,000 trees. Hence we also demand accountability and transparent processes in designing and executing projects like the metro, HCBS and flyovers. Citizen participation must be integrated into the decision-making process from the project's inception,' said Ravi Aggarwal of Toxics Link, an NGO working for the environment and a part of the forum.
From housewives to students and from NGOs like WWF-India and Toxics Link to experts in the field, Trees for Delhi has a wide variety of concerned citizens under its umbrella.
'We hope something positive comes out of Tuesday's meeting,' Singh said.
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