Deccan Chronicle 04.09.2009

Concrete jungle gobbles up green

Chennai, Sept. 2: The green cover in Chennai is shrinking due to urbanisation and development projects.

According to environmentalists, open space has come down by 60.2 per cent which means greenery is slowly vanishing as industrialisation, including the one caused by software industry’s demand for space, is slowly gobbling up lung space.

“Chennai city has only about two percent of the area as declared parks. In Chennai Metropolitan Area (CMA), the declared forest cover is about 24 sq kms, which is about 2 per cent of the CMA,” says the second master plan of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority. There are only 20,000 healthy trees within the Chennai corporation limit.

Forest officials and environmentalists say the green cover has shrunk in the last 35 years. “Earlier, trees were felled to promote real estate within the city. Now, it is repeated in all the suburbs where urban development is happening very fast. Trees become the first casualties when it comes to road expansion and other development projects,” say environmentalists.

“The tree cover in the city is inadequate and has to be enhanced by at least another 50 per cent. This will help us address several environmental issues, including pollution and rising temperature levels,” say forest department officials who are also working towards increasing the green cover.

According to them, awareness levels among Chennaiites to save trees and promote greenery are very low. “It is very pathetic. Every resident of the city should take the responsibility of promoting greenery. None of us do it,” Ms Shobha Menon, a trustee of Nizhal, an NGO that speaks for trees, says.

Every normal adult in the city would require about 1,30,000 litres of oxygen every year and two healthy trees can provide this. So, for a city of six million people, the green cover has to be definitely improved and this is not just in the hands of the government.

Deccan Chronicle 04.09.2009

Garbage remains a burning problem

Chennai
Sept. 3: While the city is yet to discover an environment-friendly method for the effective disposal of plastic wastes that choke Chennai, the metropolis and its suburbs are largely facing a more critical problem in the form of garbage burning — a crisis, which, according to health officials and civic activists, will have long-term health and ecological effect.

Despite repeated complaints and even a Madras high court ruling to restrain it, burning of garbage continues at dumping yards for which Chennai corporation and municipalities blame rag-pickers and miscreants.

“Though we have built walls to prevent outsiders from coming in, they will find some entry point to get in and set fire. Their objective is to salvage iron and aluminium which they could sell to scrap dealers,” said a corporation official.

Residential colonies and schools in the vicinity are the most affected due to the practice. Motorists passing by also have to endure its effects.
Mr M B Nirmal, Exnora International founder, says 10 to 20 sq km area near a dumping yard is directly affected by garbage burning. “The practice continues unabated at Kodungaiyur, Pallikaranai, Perungudi, Otteri and it is not a hidden fact that residents here have respiratory problems, being exposed to soot and dust. The quality of air and water has drastically come down in these areas. Unless and until the government implements strict monitoring, the practice will continue,” he said.

“It is a fact that people living near these yards are susceptible to chronic bronchitis, the fourth largest disease in the world after heart and brain, simply because they breathe in polluted air. Children, senior citizens and those diagnosed with asthma are more prone to this lung disease,” Dr R P Illango, chest specialist of Apollo hospital, told this newspaper.

Dr Illango added that the only option available to prevent the disease is to adopt a scientific approach to garbage disposal and stopping the practice of burning.