VIJAYAWADA: Residents of Vijayawada should prepare themselves to face the soaring temperatures in the ensuing summer like never before because of the rise in pollution and reduction of green cover in the city.
Here one should definitely blame the Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) for its inefficiency in implementing the ‘Green City’ concept in a full-fledged manner.
The VMC, which had planned to plant saplings in hillocks and developing green corridors on the sideways of major junctions before the arrival of summer season, has failed to execute the project.
In the last 12 months, more than 300 medium and big sized trees were chopped off for extension of roads.
Chopping of big and shade-providing trees according to building plans is turning the city into a concrete jungle.
Many people fear that the situation will turn from bad to worse in the coming days with the completion of capital city in Vijayawada.
Meanwhile,residents have expressed their concern over the reducing number of trees in the city in recent times and are worrying about the rise of temperatures in the summer.
"The VMC officials who promised of developing green corridors across the city have virtually turned a blind eye towards the project. Instead, they are chopping the existing trees by ignoring the tree replacement technique followed in cities like Bengaluru and Kochi. The maximum temperature in summer is increasing every year and to bring it down, we need to improve the green cover in our city. If there is no green in the city how one can take shelter in the greatest ever risk,” says K Veeranjaneyulu resident of Moghalrajpuram.
However, realising the cause, corporation officials have restarted the initiative two weeks ago by planting saplings on all the major roads and arranged more than 300 tree pots on the medians across the city.
Admitting the delay for executing the project, a senior VMC official of horticulture department said that choosing the right place and species is highly crucial and it requires inputs from tree experts. "Random tree planting drives just for the sake of publicity do not help. It is not about the number we gain or lose but the number we manage to sustain, so that there is a balance in the oxygen spent and oxygen released ratio," he said.
"Corporate companies, voluntary organisations, educational institutions and others can cooperate in this noble cause by contributing tree guards to protect the saplings. Further, resident welfare associations should cooperate in ensuring the growth of saplings," he said.