BHUBANESWAR: Its green cover gone and development agencies pushing more and more concrete surfaces in the name of ‘smart’ development, Bhubaneswar is fast turning into a burning deck. Interestingly though, much of the compensatory afforestation (CA) planned in lieu of the loss of tree cover in the capital is coming up on the outskirts, far away from the main city which faces stripping of the green canopy.
In the last four years, Bhubaneswar has lost over 7,800 trees. As per standard compensatory afforestation plans, at least 78,000 trees must be planted. However, only about 40 per cent of the target has been achieved yet. A little over 7,800 trees were felled in the city between 2019-20 and 2022-23 for various projects. As per statistics available with the Forest department, over 50 per cent of it were chopped in last one year alone.
Despite cyclone Fani destroying tree cover in May 2019, the department granted permission for felling of 2,669 trees in the city and its outskirts in 2019-20 and another 498 in 2020-2021. Subsequently, it allowed felling of 629 trees in 2021-22, while permission was granted again for cutting of 4,011 more trees in 2022-23.
Environmentalist Jayakrushna Panigrahi said the city is bearing the brunt of ‘urban heat island effect’ with its green canopy increasingly missing. Poor planning of government agencies in city’s expansion has turned the capital into a concrete jungle, he said.
Most of the trees were felled for expansion of roads and construction of buildings. At least 1,793 trees were felled for expansion of the national highway from Tangi to Bhubaneswar in 2019-20. Another 546 were chopped the same year for Cuttack-Ganjam road project via Kateni to Chhatabara.
Similarly, around 281 trees were felled for development of the road from Sachivalaya Marg to Acharya Vihar in 2020-21. Over 30o trees had to be chopped for development of the road from Patia square to Patia railway station in 2021-22.
In 2022-23, statistics suggest, permission was given for felling 870 trees for construction of MLA quarters, while 199 trees were cut for construction of Post Graduate Institute of Medical Science and Research and Trauma Care and Surgery Complex on Capital Hospital premises.
Similarly, the RBI Data Centre Project at EMC Park in Infovalley-II and improvement of road from Kalinga Nagar bus stop to K-7 bus stop required chopping of 500 and 669 trees respectively.
On the other hand, CA efforts managed just around 40 per cent of the target. Sources in City Forest division said around 17,000 saplings were planted, mostly on the outskirts, under different plantation programmes in 2019-20. Another 6,000 saplings were planted in 2020-21.
Besides, 10,000 trees were planted in 2021-22 and 18,000 in 2022-23. All this was planted against the CA target of 78,000. Forest officials admit lack of availability of land is responsible for poor compensatory afforestation as well as regular plantation in the city.
“In absence of open space in the city, we are taking up plantation mostly on the outskirts. In some cases we even have planted trees on private school premises in places as far as Janla,” said an official.
Climate expert and associate professor in the School of Earth, Ocean and Climate Sciences at IIT Bhubaneswar Sandeep Pattnaik said loss of green cover is only one aspect of the problem. The heat is unbearable due to re-emitting of heat from more and more paver stretches, concretising and asphalt-topped roads.
“Apart from tree cover, focus should also be on exposure of soil and rejuvenation of water bodies to bring down the effect of urban heat island,” he said.
Panigrahi suggests that Nagar Van project be implemented at seven sites by the government and Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) to create mini urban forests without any delay.
BDA officials, on the other hand, said steps are being taken to improve green cover through inter-department coordination. BDA secretary Kabindra Kumar Sahoo said a high-level meeting has been planned to discuss to improve city’s greenery.
Bald city
➢ In last 4 years, Bhubaneswar lost over 7,800 trees
➢ As per standard compensatory afforestation plans, 78,000 trees must have been planted
➢ Only 40 per cent of the target has been achieved yet
➢ Forest officials blame lack of open space in city for poor compensatory afforestation