Green Cover: Bhopal Green Cover Sacrificed for Development; government agencies to blame | Bhopal News

Bhopal: Under the guise of development, Bhopal’s green cover is being replaced by concrete jungles. The agencies entrusted with the city’s progress – the Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC), the public works department (PWD) and the electricity distribution company – are major factors behind the declining green spaces. landscapes, failed to adequately protect it. PWD and power discoms have also contributed to this destruction by prioritizing infrastructure development and power distribution over environmental conservation. This caused a significant loss of the city’s natural heritage. “There is no mechanism to deal with green waste. Cities like Chandigarh have processing capacity to convert green waste into manure,” said environmentalist Nitin Saxena. On May 5, he faced the electrical malfunction after he realized that about a dozen big trees in MP were being cut down as they “pose a threat to power lines”. “Branches of large trees were cut, leaving green waste behind. Pruning and cutting whole branches is a different thing. Power outage should be penalized for the same. Saving the green cover should be a priority,” Saxena said in the complaint to the BMC. The actions of these three organizations had a negative impact on the ecological balance of the state capital. The loss of green cover not only affects the city’s aesthetic appeal, but also has far-reaching consequences for the local climate, air quality and biodiversity, he added. On Saturday, the civic body planned to cut three Ashoka trees each. over 60 feet high, in Roshanpura. They arrived in a vehicle equipped with a hydraulic lift and an electric machine. However, what happened was a nightmare. All the extensive branches and leaves of the lush green roof were cut, leaving behind a mess of green waste, which the BMC failed to collect. The situation remains unresolved. Residents were instructed to remove their parked vehicles and were told that branches that could affect power lines would be cut. Locals assumed this would involve the row of trees adjacent to the electricity transformer. Surprisingly, the BMC cut down trees that were far away from power lines. The situation allegedly arose following a directive from Raju Aneja, husband of BMC ward 32 corporator Aarti Aneja. When contacted on Tuesday, the “de facto corporator”, who functions with the powers of a “Parshad Pati”, denied any knowledge of the situation, saying, “I don’t know.” Residents of the affected colony are still dealing with the remaining debris. green waste and unhappy with the cutting of green cover, contacted Aneja for answers. But this is not the first example of cutting down luxuriant trees. Last year, Aneja instructed the BMC to completely cut down two lush green trees from over 45 bungalows without any record of replanting in the BMC records. BMC commissioner Harendra Narayan, when contacted, said, “The matter will be investigated.” Recently, PWD’s proposal to cut the green cover around Shahpura Bawadia Kalan road was challenged. The NGT granted a stay order in the case. Petitioner Sanidhya Jain, a law student, claimed that 132 trees were marked for felling for road renewal.