‘Govt greening effort not enough’

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The state of environment report 2010, released here by Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on Saturday, underlines the need for restoring the natural resources and assets in their pristine form to meet the future challenges in the city. It also points out that the greening efforts of the government by planting saplings were not enough,

something that has been touted by the government as a “success” amid criticism by environmentalists that Delhi’s natural resources were falling victim to “development”.
In the wake of increasing urbanisation and jump in the number of heavy-duty infrastructure projects, particularly in the wake of the Commonwealth Games, the government has been claiming earlier that its green cover has been increasing over the past few years. A report in December last year had claimed that Delhi’s green cover was over 20 per cent and some areas were “under dense forest”. There were reports that the government intended to increase the cover to 25 per cent this year.
However, the report, recommending “mapping of all the natural resources and environmental assets of Delhi”, says: “Though the green cover has increased in past several years due to massive plantation drives......still other assets like ponds, lakes, ground water, river...are under constant threat due to their over exploitation. To make an informed, scientific decision about saving these natural and environmental resource and to retain them to their closest pristine forms, urgent measures are required...One way this can be achieved is to start by mapping these natural resources in the city.”
Under the mapping scheme, the report recommends constituting an “inventory” of all the natural and environmental assets of the city. The inventory will list “open spaces included in the Master Plan for Delhi 2021”, water courses (rivers and natural nullahs), large urban green areas (ridge area parks, zoo and other green areas). It will then be followed by a study of their characteristics and threats, following which mitigation measures would be formulated and implemented.
The environmentalists have been questioning the government’s claims on the efficacy of the greening efforts to keep the environment clean. Also, they have alleged time and again that ecological balance and bio-diversity was becoming the major casualty due to “developmental activities”.