The Hindu : Front Page : Now Delhi for trees and trees for Delhi

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 07, 2007
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Now Delhi for trees and trees for Delhi

Bindu Shajan Perappadan

A brand new public movement is born in the Capital

A NEW LEASE OF LIFE: The new public movement is aimed at saving trees such as this one spotted in Delhi on Tuesday. --PHOTO: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

NEW DELHI: Kick-starting a public movement here in the Capital to prevent over 35,000 trees from being axed under various ongoing and planned development programmes of the Government, concerned citizens and environmentalists have come together under a unique initiative called ``Trees of Delhi''. Several thousand trees across the city face the threat of being cut down to make way for widening of roads for new "High Capacity Buses", building new flyovers and expansion of the Delhi Metro railway network.

Says well-known environmentalist Pradip Krishen: "Trees don't just add to the beauty of the city but also keep it environmentally healthy. We have got together to ensure that people of the city know what is at stake. People should have a voice and we will try and highlight the issue. We have already lost several thousand trees in the name of development and are in danger of losing several more.'' The new group, comprising various non-government organisations, environmentalists and concerned citizens, will work actively towards creating awareness about the issue among the public and putting pressure on the Government to try and save the trees of Delhi. "Trees aren't just government property but also belong to the common man. We haven't been consulted on how many trees and in which locations they should be cut. We have already lost several thousand trees in the name of development because of the Delhi Metro, National Highway No. 8 and several flyovers. The Government continues to go ahead with its plan to cut trees and make way for what seems to be an environmentally hazardous development. We want the Government to consult the people affected by the same before they mark and cut trees,'' says Usha Srinivasan of ``Trees for Delhi''.

"Unfortunately the trees that are transplanted don't have a good survival rate,'' she adds. The city that was previously referred to as an environmental manager's challenge in the best of circumstances did a turnaround just about a decade ago pushing up its tree cover from 1.75 per cent of the total geographical area in 1997 to 18.07 per cent in 2003.

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