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Previous Article | Next Article Don't let trees be cut: DU scholars urge VCSource: Toxics Link, Date: , 2007The ongoing assualt on trees in the city is evoking reactions from those who have lived and worked around them for decades and thus know their significance, perhaps more than those indiscriminately writing them off from the plans for modernisation. Over 75 people, including scholars, students and staff, from University of Delhi have written to the Vice Chancellor Professor Deepak Pental, stating their deep concern over reports of 1,000 trees on the campus sports facility having been marked for felling to erect a rugby ground, which will be used for the Commonwealth Games. Following is the text of the letter, submitted om May 4, 2007, and list of signatories: Save Delhi University’s Green Heritage
Dear Professor Pental, We were dismayed to read in the Hindustan Times (New Delhi, April 25, 2007) that 1,000 trees around the university sports ground are marked for felling to make a rugby field for the Commonwealth Games 2010. We believe that such large-scale destruction of invaluable old trees will seriously damage Delhi University’s green heritage and our city’s already threatened environment. We urge you to reconsider this project and halt the planned tree-felling. The beauty of our North campus lies in large part in its majestic trees. Nowhere else in north Delhi can we find such a diversity of species. The campus trees create a continuous green belt between the University and the Ridge. They provide shade to our students for study and recreation, and to our university employees a respite from Delhi’s gruelling heat. They are an invaluable ecological habitat, sheltering diverse bird species, including the red-crested flameback, the green pigeon, and the spotted owlet. They create serenity and inspire scholarship. The campus will not be the same without these trees. We could accept the sacrifice of some trees for a project of great importance, but felling so many for a one-time sports event is unjustified. We need well-maintained multifunctional facilities for locally popular sports. Rugby is not a major sport among our students but, if needed, the large university ground near the Police Lines, Vijay Nagar, can be used for the purpose. You may recall that, before the 1982 Asian Games, large stands of massive putranjiva (Putranjiva roxburghii) and saptaparni (Alstonia scholaris) trees were felled to make way for the University sports complex. Trees that take decades to mature were cut to construct buildings that have remained severely under-utilized for the last 25 years. Surely we should not repeat our mistake? Arguments such as compensatory afforestation and transplantation sound good on paper but fail to convince on the ground. Young saplings planted elsewhere cannot compensate for neighbourhood trees of great age, beauty and diversity. Nor can they resettle displaced birds. Recent audits by environmental groups also show that transplanted trees rarely survive. Neither measure can compensate for tree loss on our campus. As concerned teachers, students, and citizens who work or live on the University campus, we appeal to you to cancel the proposed project. As Vice-Chancellor, on whom rests responsibility for the university’s long-term welfare, we urge you to protect these trees which are our heritage, and ensure that they are not sacrificed to short term pressures. SIGNATORIES TO APPEAL TO THE VICE CHANCELLOR, DELHI UNIVERSITY (List of 75 signatures from Delhi Univ, of faculty, students and staff of the Institute of Economic Growth, Depts of Economics and Sociology, Delhi School of Economics, others)
SIGNATORIES TO APPEAL TO THE VICE CHANCELLOR, DELHI UNIVERSITY contd/-
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