Receding Green cover does not alarm officials
Even though city’s green cover is falling short of the mandatory 20% as per the Master Plan 2025, the Jaipur Development Authority (JDA) have not taken any step to contain or improve the situation.
Currently, the city has only 11.3% of its area under green cover. The alarming situation, however, has not given any tension to the concerned department officials.
There had been proposals to develop six central parks and one District Park on forest land. All of them continue to bite dust as no meeting till date has taken place. An official from the authority said, “We were waiting for the new JDC to join the post so that a meeting with the forest department can happen. Now since the JDC has taken charge, the meeting will be scheduled soon. Also, the lands have been identified.”
The lack of initiative has led to the pendency in the work on other proposals regarding increasing green cover in the city as well. One of such projects, part of Master Plan 2025 mentions that the entry roads to the city from Delhi, Ajmer, Sikar and Agra should have green corridor of 30-45 meters on either side. This is also lying pending. For this, the JDA plans to adopt the PPP policy for plantation along major roads. Other than this, eco-tourism projects for places like Jhalana, Kho-Nagoriyan and Kukas are also proposed. These two proposals remain on papers.
The green cover shortage is not a sudden phenomenon but has occurred gradually as the last year too JDA shelved such a project. “We shelved the proposal of developing woodland areas in the city vicinity, last year. To restore the ecological balance, the JDA had proposed to plant around 5 lakh different species of trees in six woodland areas. Zone commissioners were directed to identify government-owned land. However, the project was shelved in the absence of land,” said a source.
Additional chief engineer of JDA Arvind Arya said, “Currently the indentified land falls within forest areas. So the possession of land will not be a problem for the authorities. However, firstly a meeting with the forest department is required.”
Source: The Times of India
District Park on forest land, Green corridor Delhi, Green corridor Jaipur, Jaipur Development Authority, JDA Jaipur, Master Plan 2025, possession of land
