Fading Kolkata
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-02-18/kolkata/37159460_1_saviours-and-friends-kolkata-municipal-corporation-trees
Misplaced priorities hack Kolkata's green cover to an all-time low
Prithvijit Mitra, TNN Feb 18, 2013, 01.58AM IST
KOLKATA: The government may be working on a war footing to beautify the dividers and pavements by planting decorative shrubs, but it seems the big bosses are missing the bigger picture. For, lacks of planning and ruthless chopping of trees have forced the city's green cover to dwindle at an abysmal 5.5%, down from 8% in 2009. It's high time the government realizes that planting saplings on pavements and boulevards won't help to arrest this free fall.
Kolkata's green cover has never been less, as per a study carried out by the Centre for Environment and Development, an NGO that had put the cover at around 10% in 2007. According to experts, the beautification drive planned by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) - that includes plants on road dividers and inclined platforms on pavements - won't help to reduce the city's pollution load, one of the major objectives of any green drive. The move should have been preceded by a compensatory plantation to off-set the loss of more than 1,500 trees that were chopped over the last two years to make way for the East-West Metro and several flyover projects, they felt. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-06-05/kolkata/29623147_1_vivekananda-park-green-activists-mmic Activists call for more green cover
TNN Jun 5, 2011, 12.37am IST
KOLKATA: Kolkata, which once was crowned as the city of parks, has been struggling to expand its green cover for a while now. While a metropolitan needs at least 15 per cent open space (parks, gardens), Kolkata has only 5 per cent of it at present. On the eve of World Environment Day, the city's green activists on Saturday demanded a wider blanket of green for Kolkata and better maintenance of its parks.
Addressing a seminar at the
Misplaced priorities hack Kolkata's green cover to an all-time low
Prithvijit Mitra, TNN Feb 18, 2013, 01.58AM IST
KOLKATA: The government may be working on a war footing to beautify the dividers and pavements by planting decorative shrubs, but it seems the big bosses are missing the bigger picture. For, lacks of planning and ruthless chopping of trees have forced the city's green cover to dwindle at an abysmal 5.5%, down from 8% in 2009. It's high time the government realizes that planting saplings on pavements and boulevards won't help to arrest this free fall.
Kolkata's green cover has never been less, as per a study carried out by the Centre for Environment and Development, an NGO that had put the cover at around 10% in 2007. According to experts, the beautification drive planned by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) - that includes plants on road dividers and inclined platforms on pavements - won't help to reduce the city's pollution load, one of the major objectives of any green drive. The move should have been preceded by a compensatory plantation to off-set the loss of more than 1,500 trees that were chopped over the last two years to make way for the East-West Metro and several flyover projects, they felt. http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-06-05/kolkata/29623147_1_vivekananda-park-green-activists-mmic Activists call for more green cover
TNN Jun 5, 2011, 12.37am IST
KOLKATA: Kolkata, which once was crowned as the city of parks, has been struggling to expand its green cover for a while now. While a metropolitan needs at least 15 per cent open space (parks, gardens), Kolkata has only 5 per cent of it at present. On the eve of World Environment Day, the city's green activists on Saturday demanded a wider blanket of green for Kolkata and better maintenance of its parks.
Addressing a seminar at the