Dying for attention

Dying for attention
TIMES NEWS NETWORK


Garden City is gasping to retain its green tag. Its lung spaces are reportedly being diverted for various purposes by vested interests.
Parks, gardens, playgrounds and lakes meant for recreation and fresh air, playgrounds for children, promenades for residents and recreation, are not spared. They are either encroached upon, wastes dumped into them, littered or polluted.
Environmentalist feel there is a need for creating more lung spaces in the city. For an ideal environment, there should be 15% waterscape and 30% open space in every layout. Air quality, humidity and temperature are the three criteria critical parameters but our open spaces fall short on the required levels. The lung space required for an individual per capita is 18 sq metres, but in the city the available space is just 0.2 sq metres.
It’s alarming to note that waste like industrial effluents, untreated domestic waste or building debris are dumped in these open spaces, particularly lakes. Around 500 MLD (million litres per day) of sewage, amounting to one-fourth of the sewage in the city, is dumped in Varthur lake alone.
Moreover, there is no proper disposal of solid waste management. Around 3,000 tonnes of solid waste are generated every day in the city. Of this, 300-400 solid wastes are converted to organic waste by the Karnataka State Composting Development Corporation (KSCDC). If 60% of the solid waste was treated organically, it would have just 10% inert (stable material not harmful to the environment) that would go to the landfill, say experts.
Encroachment for commercial gain is the other major concern with illegal constructions of buildings and slum dwellers occupying adjoining areas. Often, conscious effort of the public has helped checked this.
In case of lakes, ecologists say that urbanisation and the consequent loss of lakes has led to decrease in catchment yield, water storage capacity, wetland area, number of migratory birds, flora and fauna diversity and ground water table.
The city’s problems are set to get aggravated due to the presence of highly toxic metals in the air. This high metal content has caused an increase in lung ailments in the city, which already has a high incidence of asthma.
Thankfully, Lalbagh Botanical Garden, Cubbon Park, IISc and J P Park are a prominent lung spaces still untouched by land grabbers.