Accept loss of green-belt, or get out of city

Accept loss of green-belt, or get out of city
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: Bid adieu to the green-belt in north-east Bangalore and get set to welcome the concrete jungle that will arise as part of the development of Bangalore or just ‘Get Out of the City’.

According to the draft Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP) 2005 of the Bangalore Development Authority (BDA), 200 sq-kms of green space in the north-east will be lost, especially between Whitefield and Devanahalli, as they will be converted into residential and commercial spaces.

BDA Commissioner M K Shankarlinge Gowda told this paper that according to the draft plan, the green-belt was opened in 2005 for development.

‘‘If people cannot accept the city’s growth, they should just get out. The area has monoculture vegetation with eucalyptus in large numbers,’’ he said.

Bangalore will have to compromise to a certain extent on the green-belt. There should be more trees than parks. We will build three regional parks like the Cubbon Park in the new layouts, which will balance the green spaces,’’ he added.

Environmentalists, on the other hand, say that the entire area is not fully filled with commercial trees like eucalyptus, but also has land under horticulture.

‘‘Some of the areas are owned by multiple agencies like Town Municipality, City Corporation and Town Panchayats. The areas were earmarked as peri-urban areas in 1995-96 and were notified as the green-belt of the city to promote horticulture,’’ said Akshay Heblikar, Director of Eco-Watch.

The farmers will be forced to look for land elsewhere and this will harm the city’s green-belt in the long run.

The place should be enriched with indigenous species and satellite townships should be developed in areas like Magadi, Hosur and Tumkur Roads,’’ he said. If the areas are notified, it will affect the city lung space.

An alternative should be considered before proceeding further with City’s development and NGOs should also involved, he added.

‘‘The idea of earmarking the peripheral areas was to create a buffer zone. Developed spaces have 42 per cent of vacant spaces, which should be utilised for planting trees and for construction purposes,’’ said Vinay Baindur, an independent urban governance consultant.