Maya to make room for 61% green cover at memorial
Krishnadas Rajagopal
Posted online: 2010-08-07 00:33:20+05:30
New DelhiUttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati on Friday agreed to
break and remove 48,300 sq m of concrete pavement at Noida Park to
make room for about 61% green cover at the half-complete memorial site
for Dalit leaders.
But a Green Bench led by Chief Justice of India SH Kapadia on Friday
chose to drive the bargain a notch higher by quoting the latest
recommendation of its Central Empowered Committee (CEC) for 65% tree
cover.
"We are agreeable to anything. Let us end this matter instead of
dragging it on here. The Commonwealth Games is near, in October. The
half-finished construction has become an eyesore, and if not completed
soon will be cause for national shame," senior advocate and Mayawati's
counsel KK Venugopal replied to the court.
The Bench has now asked the government to consider 65% green cover,
excluding the surrounding boundary walls and remaining pavement, and
35% of concrete.
Any structural changes, however, can be made only after the Supreme
Court lifts a stay on construction ordered on October 9, 2009. The ban
came after the CEC reported that no prior environmental clearance was
taken for the Rs 650-crore project.
An August 5 UP government affidavit by Director (Horticulture), NOIDA,
B Prabhakar, says the state sees eye-to-eye with a "suggestion" from
the Supreme Court on July 30, 2010 to increase green plantation "to
60%".
"The UP government has re-planned the layout of the Noida Park and
will be breaking and removing the existing paved area to the extent of
48,300 sq m approximately and converting the same into a green area
with tree cover so that the total green area is about 61%," the
affidavit stated.
The government even names the species of the trees it intends to
plant. "We will have neem, lichi, mango... a large green canopy as per
UP Forest Department norms," Venugopal submitted.
In reply to a specific query from the Bench on the presence of water
bodies in the park, Venugopal pointed to the map to show 'concrete'
water tanks, complete with fountains, which would use treated water
instead of ground water. Asked if birds would flock to concrete water
tanks, Venugopal recounted from his own experience of keeping a "water
basin in his garden where the birds flock since morning". "What is
done is done. The trees are gone. His (Venugopal's) client says those
trees will be replaced," SC amicus curiae Harish Salve said.
But advocate Jayant Bhushan, representing the residents near the
memorial site, chose not to agree. "We want 100% green. Is it possible
for everyone to waste tax payers money on a construction and cut 6,000
trees, and then later replace it with 6,000 saplings which will take
another 30 years to grow," Bhushan argued.
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