MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the state government to file a counter affidavit on a PIL filed seeking formulation of comprehensive action plans to enhance urban green cover and mitigate heat in Madurai city.
The litigant C Selvakumar, an advocate from Madurai, stated that due to rapid urbanisation and lack of compensatory afforestation measures in Madurai in the past few years, the city has been experiencing severe urban heat island effects. A recent study conducted by researchers from Oxford University assessed 205 cities across the world and identified Madurai as the seventh highest heat-risk city globally, he added.
The study further suggested that expansion of urban tree cover, restoration of ecological corridors, conservation of riverbanks, development of urban parks, etc are the most effective and economically sustainable methods to tackle the above issue, Selvakumar added. He requested the court to direct the authorities to take steps to restore Vaigai riverbanks and develop green parks by constituting a district-level green task force under the chairmanship of the collector.
He also wanted formulation of action plans for increasing the urban green cover, incorporating green infrastructure such as cooling shelters, shaded pedestrian corridors, drinking water facilities and other heat-wave mitigation measures, conducting an annual tree census, among others. These measures should be coordinated and implemented by the above task force, and periodical progress reports should be published in the public domain, the litigant sought.
A bench of Justices CV Karthikeyan and R Sakthivel directed the principal secretaries of the departments of environment and revenue and disaster management to file a counter affidavit and adjourned the case to September 8.