Thursday, 09 September 2021 | PNS | Dehradun
Unplanned development in Dehradun has taken a major toll on the environment which is causing life-threatening incidents and disasters to recur in the region.
Members of a group of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) stated this during a Press conference here on Wednesday. They stated that they are also against the planned felling of 2,200 trees from Jogiwala to Pacific Golf apartments for road widening purpose and if the authority goes ahead with this plan, they will start a massive movement like the Chipko movement.
Representatives of the NGOs like Rajpur Initiative, Pramukh, Friends of Doon and Citizens For Green Doon (CFGD) said that incessant rainfall has been occurring in the city for years during the monsoon but due to unplanned development by authorities, water logging, flash floods, mudslides and rocks falling on roads and highways have become frequent and life-threatening incidents in recent times. Himanshu Arora from CFGD said that illegal mining, unplanned urbanisation, cutting of mountains and permitting projects at river sources and catchment areas are destroying the environment in the valley. He said that failure of the development agencies like municipal bodies, Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA), Public Works Department (PWD) and Dehradun Smart City Limited (DSCL) besides the negligence of the political parties has contributed majorly to environmental damage in Dehradun.
The NGOs also alleged that those officials who want to seriously work against such anomalies are transferred by the higher authorities like the last secretary of MDDA Harbeer Singh was transferred overnight as he was taking stringent actions against illegal constructions and encroachments in the city. They said that such action from the government is very discouraging for those officials who genuinely want to work for the betterment of the city and Singh must be reinstated to his previous post.
