Monday 02 May 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
Concerned citizens and members of various groups demonstrated against the planned felling of 2,200 trees in Dehradun for widening of the Jogiwala-Ladpur-Sahastradhara road here on Sunday.
The protesters said that the whole of Uttarakhand is reeling under severe heat conditions. The months of March and April in Uttarakhand have been the warmest in the past 30 years and a 96 per cent rain deficit has been recorded in all 13 districts of the state. These hot and dry conditions have led to almost 1,500 forest fires which have destroyed approximately 2,500 hectares of forest land, they said. Electricity too is in short supply because of the increased demand to combat the heat wave conditions. It is thus common sense to see that more trees mean more rainfall, lower atmospheric temperatures, higher groundwater levels, lesser scarcity of water, decrease in incidents of flooding and water logging, fewer forest fires and lesser economic losses to the state. However, the protesters said that a twisted development model is being applied in the state. The latest of these projects is the construction of the Jogiwala-Ladpur-Sahastradhara road which involves cutting of over 2200 trees. Since the plan was announced last year, citizens and groups of Dehradun have shown their concern for the depleting green cover through protests and social media campaigns.
The protesters further said that according to the authorities out of the 2,200 trees to be axed, 440 will be transplanted. But it is common knowledge that the transplantation success rate is dismal and even more so in this hot dry weather. What is not being taken into account is the fact that apart from lowering the temperature, these trees are crucial in preventing water logging, which is major problem in the area around IT Park. Once these are gone, this area will be blisteringly hot in the summers and flooded in the monsoons, said the protesters.
The groups which participated in the protest included Citizens for Green Doon, Friends of Doon, Eco Group, Khushion ki Udaan, Parashakti, Ideal Foundation, Mitti Foundation, Titli Trust, Sahastradhara Sangharsh Samiti, Sanyukt Nagrik Sangathan, Proud Pahadi, The Earth and Climate Initiative, Aaghas, MAD, Pramukh, BTDT and others.
