For the last many years the topic of the environment is being discussed, debated and talked about at various levels. There are notable meetings and conferences held and organized where the experts belonging to different topics pour out their research outcomes and voice their opinions..As a matter of fact the serious issues of global warming and climatic change due to the environmental degradation mainly caused by the emissions of the carbon dioxide due to the use of fossil fuels is very threatening . But if you sit and ponder as to how these issues have been taken by the people it may look a bit depressing because there have been very meager responses and much less in terms of the solutions have been found for these problems.
We are participants in a process that will be always larger than our imagination or our best sciences can fully explain. This is where we stand at the moment in our urban evolution ,our process. The process is a continuum of many activities needed to run the mega city mechanization .. For the last ten to twelve years I was seriously obsessed with the hurried rush that the mega city Bangaluru had been nestling through . Well for Bangaluru to go through this fast pace there have been many different reasons which need to be considered. The consequent effects of globalization, started in around 1991,the liberalization of the economic policies ,the economic reforms, all these made way for the continuous process of investment in a city that had a salubrious climate ,beautiful parks and sparkling lakes. Most important the relatively cheaper land prices. A host of people that included industrialists, realtors, developers and eanthrepreuners, all of them swarmed into this specious ,culturally warm,gentle,beautiful city that sort of offered a carte blanche for anyone who wished to do something or the other.
The government was happy that people from outside were coming in ,investing and starting the businesses and industrial enterprises . A lot of money started generating and enabled various types of small ,medium and big business ventures that brought more people from everywhere and gradually Bangaluru became a hot, throbbing ,mega city ,a metropolis. The government went on raising the requisite infrastructures to facilitate various platforms and create facilities for the urban growth
The setting up of the MNCs, the IT's, the BTs and a host of other related companies and their activities went on flourishing. The metropolis also provided the various responses as needed by the foreigners and the outside Indians who were happy to land in Bangluru because it was a city of great ease and warmth. The commercial businesses, the hotels and restaurants, the rise in demand for accommodation was a big attraction for the developers who went on buying land around Bangaluru raising the apartment buildings, conventional halls and complexes, shopping malls etc .The villagers also were happy because their lands fetched good prices which they would never have got. They also made money and went on buying automobiles, building large houses for themselves.
Money started flowing in several channels, it had never streamed or furtively reached some people who had connections with the politicians, police and the revenue officials ..So the money flowed this way. There were cars, the expensive two wheelers, the smart phones the lap tops ,the TV sets and a great activity in construction and in all this there was huge money which attracted everyone .. Who would take notice of the rising air pollution, the depletion of water and the vanishing of the green cover this great garden city had boasted of?
People who had inherited old buildings, large spaces and sprawling gardens in front of the bungalows could not maintain the assets as they found it difficult to save the heritage and it was quite expensive to hold on to all their properties. Besides, their surrounding areas were growing up with modern, fashionable structures and their old ,however graceful ,buildings couldn't match with the state of the art architecture . Hence they decided to let the old stuff go and let the new in. This process was also encouraged by the younger generation who were influenced by the new conumables, gadgets,new architectures, designs and the glaring metamorphosis the world was going through. They took a plunge into the upsurge of the new horizons the city was acquiring. The fragile minds are a no defense of the old thoughts and mindsets.
The ambling around the old streets and sprawling parks were an old hat they thought of dispossessing. The environmental issues never struck their breezy life and the mind. So the growth, unchecked and unplanned went on in a rude way. Today we can't recognize the old Bangalore, it has so dramatically changed. Many lakes have disappeared, some are thoroughly polluted and silted up . The problem is the disappearance of the catchment areas of these lakes. When the catchment is not there the nutrients of the soils and the minerals don't flow into the lakes. The pollution control board has to rivet the industries that let the effluents into the lakes. We may have to cut the vehicle population which is nearly 78,00,000. There is a huge air pollution because of the vehicles and the rising economic activities.
Now if you want to decongest, how will you do that? How will you take the chunks of population and the businesses into other areas and the districts.? How will we stop the various economic and commercial activities that are supporting the lives of the people? Bangalore might have grown by about 1000 percent ,trees have been cut down and there are only about 1.5 million trees . There is a report that Bangalore is 4th in the list of cities that have worst pollution. There is also a report about the groundwater depletion which is going down swiftly,: will there be enough water for people to drink, to bathe ,to wash and to grow crops?
I have travelled many of the districts where trees have been cut down drastically which is contributing to the lessening of the precipitation. Even Cauvery River which comes from the Western Ghat forests is becoming leaner as a result of the thinning of the forest cover in the surrounding areas. The government is keen on developing roads and putting projects in the forest areas of the Western Ghats which will affect the rainfall of the state. We must be careful as nearly 150 taluks of Karnataka are affected by the droughts. These forests are rain bringing forests. The economy, agriculturfe, industry and electricity come from these forests . Let the state authorities wake up to this reality and act cautiously ...Environment is not just a peripheral talk it is the foundation of the economic progress.
The writer is a leading environmentalist and founder, Eco-Watch
