Vijayawada braces up for scorching summer

- This year mercury level may rise due to vanishing of green cover
- Shortage of staff and scarcity of funds hit green cover in city
- Most parks maintained by VMC lack greenery and toys for children

Vijayawada: Vijayawada, which is popularly known as Blazewada for scorching heat and harsh weather conditions in summer, is now bracing up for another hot summer. This year, the impact of summer would be more due to felling of trees in the city for widening of roads during the Krishna Pushkaralu. Green cover in the city is fast declining due to felling of trees and plants for various reasons particularly widening of roads and other development works.

The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation had spent more than Rs.100 crore for widening and development of roads for Krishna Pushkaralu. As a result, hundreds of trees were axed in different parts of the city. On the other hand, it will take many years to grow the plants. Scarcity of funds, shortage of man power and negligent attitude of the rulers and officials are the primary reasons for vanishing of greenery in the city. Krishna district has only seven per cent forest area compared to the international standards of 33 per cent. The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation takes the responsibility of growing trees and maintenance of the parks in the city.

The civic body is allocating nominal funds in the budget for improvement of greenery. Eluru road, Bandar road, five number route, Samba Murthy road, Krishna lanka road, Museum road and several hundred roads in three circles of the city are left without greenery.

The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation needs at least 300 employees to maintain the parks particularly for watering, trimming and protection of trees. But, the horticulture wing of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation has only 150 employees. Shortage of staff is one of the prime reasons for not growing plants in the parks and main roads of the city. The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation takes up plantation drive from June to October. But, due to absence of proper care, most of these plants wither in a few days or weeks. Tree guards play an important role for increasing the greenery in the city. Tree guards are not visible in the city for the past the few years.

Earlier, the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation used to arrange tree guards on the main roads to protect the plants. Some voluntary organisations used to donate tree guards in the city. But, due to lifting of tree guards by miscreants, the NGOs stopped donating tree guards. It is estimated that Rs 50 lakh are required to procure the tree guards. Citing funds crunch, the VMC is not procuring tree guards for many years and requesting the NGOs to donate the guards.

Assistant director of horticulture wing of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation Pradeep Kumar said the department has chalked out action plan to enhance greenery in the city. He said the department had made proposals and will put before the council for allotment of more funds in the budget. Cattle destroy the existing greenery in the city by eating plants and trees. There is no mechanism to check these cattle particularly the cows and bulls. Cattle are seen eating the grass grown on the dividers in some parts of the city.

Existing municipal parks are also in pathetic condition. The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation owns and maintains more than 140 parks in the city. The civic body is collecting entry fee for only three parks Rajiv Park, K L Rao Park and Raghavaiah Park. There is no entry for the remaining parks. Shortage of man power and scarcity of funds hit the development of parks in the city. More than 80 per cent parks maintained by Vijayawada Municipal Corporation are in poor condition and have no play toys for children.

Cutting of tree branches by electricity department is another reason for vanishing of greenery in the city. The electricity department staff every month chops branches of hundreds of trees to avoid electrocution or hazards caused by live wires and transformers in the city. All these factors contribute for vanishing greenery in the city. During the 2016 summer, the mercury touched 49 degrees Celsius. Denizens of Vijayawada now feel that the temperature may rise further this summer due to total vanishing of green cover in the city.

Md Ameen