INTERVIEW
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Delhi speaks for its trees
Parvinder Singh Source: Toxics Link, Date: , 2007
Ever since a sign-on campaign was launched in
the month of March to allow citizens of Delhi to express solidarity with the
demand to stop heavy felling of old neighbourhood trees in some of capital's
greenest avenues to make way for High Capacity Bus Service corridor, messages
have poured in from a wide cross section of people on what they feel and opine
on the issue.
We take you through some of these expressions, which reveal that citizens have much to offer, contrary to what our urban planners
believe, if only those at the helm of affairs cared to
listen.
"There are words all over the newspaper
stating: India the next Superpower. This may be true, and if this is the case,
protect your resources, trees, animals and all the myriads of environmental
variables that go into maintaining a balanced ecosystem. Let the world see the
next Superpower as a people who are concerned about the Earth; keep the trees
intact. People are starting to wake up, it is no longer about money and our
governments, it's about the Earth and humanity as a whole! Save your trees!"
Shelly Peters
"15 days of Commonwealth Games, a chapter of
Delhi's history torn out to make space for more vehicular traffic, I feel
proud of the vibrant green that surrounds us, without it, it's akin to
stripping of a woman off her modesty, to nakedness. Please stop, I am sure you
can find another way to your traffic woes, i rather walk than ride on a
cemetery laden with dead trees."
Palak Singh
"Metro construction will prove to be another
nail in Delhi's coffin. The number of trees sacrificed is substantial and
increasing. Metro Corporation's claims of planting 10 trees for every uprooted
tree is bogus and misleading. A walk on Barakhamba Road will show the
hollowness of Metro's claims. The saplings have all died out long ago.
Moreover, a large number of tree saplings are that of phycus species,
primarily an ornamental tree. We need than a petition to stop
this."
Wilson John
"Why can't the road design be innovative to
minimise the felling of trees? Subsequent, to the road construction, no trees
are planted. For example, the Panchsheel club flyover took away 70 trees and
none were planted after that. Then the central divide were re-cemented (God
knows for what reasons) and all trees in the central divide were felled.
Subsequently, no planting of trees have taken place. A tree takes so many
years to grow and it takes just an insensitive attitude to waste away all that
time.”
anonynmous
"I appeal to the
Delhi Government to draft policies in consultations with people of Delhi, so
that policies reflect the views of citizen for whom benefit these are
prepared.”
Preeti Puri
"It's not just shocking but plain insensitive
that the Delhi Government takes the easiest way out to create much needed
infrastructure. Cutting trees and making roads or new games' sites is blatant
abuse of the power vested in the govt's hands by the common man to improve
facilities. If we, the denizens of Delhi, had been aware about what the
Commonwealth Games would entail for Delhi, with respect to environmental
damage, neither us nor the Games Committee would have awarded the games to New
Delhi."
Ramit Mitra
"We also demand
for planting of more trees... that'll provide shade and colours to Delhi in
different seasons. After trees are cut very efficiently and silently over a
single night, small shrubs replace these. Metro reports trees are being planted
...where we cannot see...planting trees in some far away reclaimed land is not
the only solution..trees need to be replanted in the localities where they have
been cut. New constructions flout rules regarding green spaces in buildings like
in Gurgaon."
"The number of trees to be cut for all projects
related to the Delhi Commonwealth Games should be disclosed. The Government
should publish an in-depth report for the same and allow a system for public
to view the rehabilitation of the trees that have already been cut."
Gaurav Gogoi
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