An appeal to help preserve Bangalore's green heritage

The Background:

A small city with sylvan neighbourhoods, salubrious climate, tree-lined avenues and hospitable people. 'Garden City' and 'Pensioner's Paradise' its called.

The Boom:

The IT industry discovers Bangalore and blossom city turns into boom town. Garden City turn Garbage City.

The Change:

Populations more than doubles from 30 lakh in 1981 to 70 lakh today. 20 lakh vehicles clog the narrow roads. Polluted air, rising temperatures, disappearing green cover have become the order of the day.

And the Citizen has turned mute.

The Present:

The rapid growth has meant that development has become uncontrolled. Huge commercial complexes are springing up in the midst of residential areas. Massive housing projects are springing up on the banks of lakes. Permission is accorded to gigantic developments without any impact assessment studies. The Government is blindly taking up numerous infrastructure projects without any debate on the suitability of their plans or even the fundamental utility of such projects.

The Result:

Trees are being cut down mercilessly. Lakes are drying up. Traffic is piling up. The civic situation is only worsening with all the ill-conceived infrastructure projects only worsening rather than alleviating the situation.

The Need of the hour:

To get the Government to involve the public and experts in all infrastructural projects.
To review the utility and suitability of development plans.
To question every action of the Government that impacts the city's ecology.
To ask why software companies function out of residential layouts, why 100 trees are cut down when just 10 would have done. To make development projects more transparent.
For the citizen to not just remain a watchdog but a partner in progress.

In sum, to let the powers that be know that the average Bangalorean is awake, conscious, is asking questions and does not want to be overlooked in the development process.

The means:

To build a network of INDIVIDUALS who will

Remain vigilant to developments in the city that threaten its environment. All that is needed is to keep an eye open during the normal course of your daily life.
Disseminate such information to other people.
Write in to newspapers, and call in to TV and radio stations to let the world know that you are seeing and listening and are concerned.
To form pressure groups to change situations and projects that are detrimental to the city.
To walk up to the government and question why.
Collaborate to perform operational activites to ensure the burden is distributed

All that is asked of you is

i. to remain a vigilant citizen, take note of any development that you think is to the detriment of this city and communicate it to other citizens.
ii. Occasionally spare some minimal time to join a group of a similarly concerned citizens to walk up to the government to seek information on plans and projects and persuade it to involve the public in the development process. By spreading the effort across individuals, any disruption to your day-to-day life will be almost non-existent. You are of course welcome to contribute as much of your time as you could.
iii. Inculcate a similar sense of responsibility in fellow citizens - in your family, your neighbourhood and place of study or work.
iv. Contribute suggestions that can be prioritized and taken up for action.

How will this initiative be different from many others of similar intent?

This initiative hopes to involve the common (wo)man to go beyond just ruing the state of affairs or debating endlessly about it and actually act on his/her intent to preserve Bangalore's ecology.

Presently the following initiatives are being pursued:

i. Track progress of Seshadri Road flyover project and minimize environmental damange
ii. Work with the forest department to revive the honorary tree warden program
iii. Question the revival of the sewage treatment plant within the cubbon park.

In this endeavour we will be guided and supported by the Environment Support Group.

In order to faciliate focussed communication a web-based network called Green Bangalore has been initiated.

Demonstrate that you want have an active say in the future of Bangalore.
Write in to greenblore@gmail.com or greenblore-subscribe@yahoogroups.com if you wish to be part of this network.