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Delhi greens choking to death

Anjali Dhal Samanta

Concretisation of roads and pavements uproots grand old tree

Vanishing green cover: A banyan tree located at Delhi Gate crossing that was uprooted during the recent squall

NEW DELHI: Even as the Delhi Government is busy tallying targets of the "Greening Delhi" campaign, the existing greens seem to be choking to death. With several trees, including a huge banyan tree, suffering in the recent squall, the city's green brigade is up in arms against the tendency towards concretisation.

Almost regarded as a heritage tree by the residents, this grand old banyan tree located at the Delhi Gate crossing was uprooted during the recent squall. Though the wind speed recorded at the Safdarjung weather station here was 88 km/ hr going up to 138 km/hr in certain parts of the city, environmentalists claim that it was not enough to uproot an old banyan tree. According to them, it was the concrete structures around the tree that hampered the natural process of aeration.

"It was a beautiful old tree that would have lived on for many more years. But the authorities had made a public convenience right next to it. At some point of time, a concrete platform was constructed around it. Shops had also come up around the tree. So there was no place for the tree to breathe. When the tree was uprooted, there was concrete around the roots,'' said an angry Lokesh Jain, a resident of the area.

Members of "Free the Trees Movement'' claim that during every such storm in South and New Delhi alone close to a hundred trees suffer a similar fate. This includes hardy trees like peepal, neem and cotton silk. "For the past few years, we have conducted surveys after such storms and recorded a number of trees that have been uprooted because their root system has been devastated. Snapping of tree branches is also very common. Such trees are just waiting for a storm. This time, we have heard that many trees have suffered in the Mehrauli area,'' said environmentalist, Ajay Mahajan. Interestingly, surveys also revealed that trees located in parks survived most storms.

Ironically, even as the city's authorities enthusiastically continue this process of concretisation, there exists a guideline from the Ministry of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation dated July 21, 2000, that specifies that an area of six foot by six foot should be left "uncemented'' around each tree to ensure that it gets enough breathing space. However, in complete violation of the guideline, the process of concretisation of pavements and roads continues unabated.

At present there is also a case before the Centrally Empowered Committee that deals with the issue. "We had filed a case in 2003 concerning the protection of green areas of Delhi. We have also raised this point under that,'' said Prabhakar Rao of Kalpavriksh.

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