Cities Need Nature Too!

It is understandable that growth of cities like Jammu and Srinagar is necessary for improved avenues and better quality of life. But this doesn’t mean creating concrete jungles without taking care of ecology and nature.

People sitting in flights which take off or land in Jammu can have an idea about people and the governments in the past not caring for the environment as the landscape has simply turned into array of concrete buildings with no scope left for greenery or the tree plantation.

It is a known fact that people are moving towards cities for livelihood and in turn the need for making new houses and other civic infrastructure is growing at a rapid speed but development cannot mean building everywhere without thinking about nature.

A city that grows by destroying its natural resources may look modern, but in the long run it will make the lives of residents difficult as in the cases of many metropolitans in India. Urban planning, therefore, must go hand in hand with environmental protection.

One can gauge the importance of this hard fact by the discussions held during a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on the Master Plans of Jammu and Srinagar. The Chief Minister had also laid stress on taking into consideration the protection of environment during the course of development of Jammu and Srinagar cities.

This is the right direction and therefore the existing Master Plans for Jammu and Srinagar should be tweaked as many times as the need is felt to make sure that the upcoming development of the cities in J&K should be carried out to reverse things in the direction of rejuvenating the ecology and environment rather than blind construction of concrete structures that can have adverse effect on life’s sustainability.

Already it has become evident that uncontrolled development has led to global warming and changing weather patterns. Cities are facing inundation, land sinking, landslides and other problems due to human interference with the nature.

Fewer trees and open spaces have been making the cities hotter. Therefore, environmental protection is not an obstacle to development rather it is an essential form of fortification against upcoming dangers like floods, air pollution and shortage of resources supplying drinking water and fresh air for breathing.

Already there are cities across the country where citizens are carving for clean water and fresh air. Increasing sale of air purifiers for homes is the testimony to the fact that the situation has turned alarming.

It is therefore important for the government in J&K and the people to take steps in the right direction to make UT’s cities liveable by making them robust to sustain life without challenges.