Planning body expresses concern over loss of green cover in NCR due to rapid urbanization

India Today , Saturday, June 08, 2013
Correspondent :

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's oft-repeated claim that the city is among the world's greenest capitals has been questioned by none other than the Centre's apex body on regional planning.

The National Capital Regional Planning Board (NCRPB), constituted by the Union Ministry of Urban Development for regional planning in the NCR, says in its Draft Master Plan Report 2021 that Delhi has lost a significant amount of its green cover between 1999 and 2012.

"When it comes to urban growth, the entire NCR, including Delhi, is way ahead of the national average. The NCR is 62 per cent urbanised, with Delhi almost 97 per cent urban. But this has not found any balance with local environment and ecological parameters... the total forest cover of the NCR is mere 6.2 per cent, much below the national average of 21 per cent," a senior NCR Planning Board (NCRPB) official quoted the draft report as saying.

"Delhi's built-up area between 1999 and 2012 has gone up from 48 to 57 per cent but the corresponding green cover has gone down from 4.73 to 4.24 per cent in the same period and faces threat of further decline in the next 10 years," the draft report says, making the point that falling environmental standards in the Capital are bound to affect other basic civic services like water supply and sewage.

"Delhi's current sewage treatment capacity is just half of total generation and will not improve completely. As against the 3,210 million litres of sewage generated every day in 2021, only 2,475 would get treated... in case the influx of migrant population continues as it is today, the sewage treatment may remain at the current capacity," the officer adds.

The Capital's water woes are projected to lose their bite by just a bit in 2021, but with the rider that "all proposed supply augmentation projects are in place and cooperation with neighbouring Haryana and Uttar Pradesh works out to Delhi's needs". One senior urban development ministry official punctures that pipedream, however. "The possible picture continues to elude the national Capital with little support from other states for obvious political reasons," he said.

The city's top environmentalists and urban experts echo the NCRPB's concerns. "How will the unprecedented urban growth be serviced?" asks environmentalist Ravi Agarwal of Toxic Links, adding, "You don't have space to dump your garbage... this is no global city by any standards.

Professor Mahavir, Head of Environmental Planning in School of Planning and Architecture, says: "One talks of climate change and sustainability... but misses the environmental basics. Counting trees is no indicator of regional green cover. Had that been case, a few showers would not always flood Delhi. There is no green cover on ground to absorb the water as that has been replaced by concrete pavement."

Sunita Narain of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) is positive. She says, "The quantum of urban growth in Delhi and NCR surely poses an environmental challenge, but efforts are on to bridge the gaps and we need to move on to an integrated regional plan for development rather than that of city-to-city."

The NCRPB has collected data up to 2012 and made projections up to 2021 for four NCR states - Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan - in its draft report.

 
SOURCE : http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/ncrpb-expresses-concern-over-loss-of-green-cover-in-ncr-due-to-rapid-urbanisation/1/279057.html
 


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