Concretisation is fatal for green zones in Garden City

Bengaluru: It is said time and again that Bangalore, which had the reputation of being a garden city and an IT city, will be brought back to the same condition. Special schemes are also formulated for this. However, implementation is limited to concretisation only.

Hundreds of crores are spent annually on the development of lakes and gardens. The fact that millions of saplings are planted every year is limited to publication. If so many lakh saplings were planted every year, the city would have been full of trees.

Further, hundreds of crores are being spent on the development of each lake. Here more attention is being given to concrete construction instead of allowing for biodiversity. In the past there was nothing else except the lake which was used as a connecting bridge. Now concrete is being used for the walking track around the lake. Crores of rupees are being spent on the construction of buildings and high-tech facilities. However, there are no facilities for birds and animals in the lakes which are a place of biodiversity. There is no space for trees.

A civil engineer is the standard for the development of a lake, while eco-friendly facilities are negligible. This also applies to gardens. Citizens allege that furniture is preferred over trees in parks.

There is a lot of work to be done in the Pollution Control Board. The task is to measure air and water pollution and publish it. Responsibility should be assigned to this board, which has been limited to this for so many years. If there is any kind of pollution, the board should be held responsible for it. Such an expectation needs the official seal of the government. Otherwise, environmental activists demand that there should be an order by law.