HYDERABAD: “Give them an inch and they take a yard.” It is with this scepticism and concern that environmental activists are seeing Telangana’s new interest in setting up urban forest parks in reserve forest lands. The Forest Department maintains that urban parks are developed in less than five per cent of the individual reserve forest (RF) areas and that too in RFs in and around GHMC limits, where people can come and learn more about the habitat. Experts dispute the argument, asking where the policy is for the same. They refer to how the lands of national parks have been taken away for building gyms and walkways, which harm the biodiversity.
“Just like the lakes in the city and KBR National Park, which shrank and were filled with parks, gyms, yoga centres and walkways, these reserve forests too would be snatched away little by little, without a proper policy in place. All forests must not cater to city’s needs and this can be a failed vision,” voiced Kajal Maheshwari, a core member of the Save KBR campaign.
The Forest Department, however, maintains that they are interested in conserving the forests and the creation of urban parks brings donations from celebrities, which can help fence out these forest lands. The estimated cost of building fences around 1.70 lakh is Rs 700 crore, of which works worth `350 crore have already been completed.
“Telangana has 179 reserve forests, of which 109 will be developed into urban forest parks as those are close to cities. Since they are close to densely-populated areas, we are building see-through fences in a scientific manner so that they don’t get encroached or become dumping sites. Nearly 70 per cent of the funds spent on an urban park go into this activity as on average 25-30km of the area has to be fenced, which can incur an expenditure of Rs 45 crore. For this reason, adoptions help bring in the much-needed funds,” explained RM Dobriyal, Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (PCCF), who leads the social forestry wing of the Forest Department.
Currently, State’s four urban forest parks have been adopted and they attracted donations to the tune of `8-10 crore. The rest are funded by CAMPA and other funds of the Forest Department. For the RFs, which are not close to populated areas, instead of fencing, trenches are being dug to demarcate the land.
“Previously, the reserve forests were ignored spaces, used by locals to drink and party. It was only after formation of Telangana that scientific protection of these lands began. For instance, Gurrum Guda near LB Nagar has been fully fenced, removing all invasive species like eucalyptus, which is a success story in itself,” said Mirza Kareem Baig of Forests and Wildlife Protection Society in support of the scheme.
Policy key to hold govt accountable
Activists note that without a policy in place, it would be difficult to keep a check on the ecological burden these parks create on the reserve forests.Meanwhile, Telangana forest officials note that while they began works on these urban parks in 2015, the Centre in 2020 started a Nagar Van scheme on similar lines, giving validity to efforts on Telangana. “These forest lands have already faced biotic interference due to neglect over the years, which is why priority should be to protect them by involving locals and educating them. In areas like tiger reserves and national parks, such interventions are not needed,” said Dobriyal.
Creating awareness: Officials
Forest Dept says that urban parks are developed in less than 5% of reserve forests, where people can learn
more about the habitat.