While the public and public representatives rue the depletion of greenery in the once clean and green Dehradun which was famous for its fruit orchards in the past, measures proposed years ago for facilitating planned greenery in the State capital are yet to be acted upon.
The then divisional forest officer of Dehradun had submitted the plan for a green master plan for Dehradun to the State administration in 2010.The green master plan proposed execution of a plan akin to the one implemented in cities like Hong Kong in order to make Dehradun environmentally friendly while capitalising on bio-engineering, renewable energy and other features to optimise the urban environment in the State capital.
However, when the Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority had first invited bids for this project, only two responses were received of which the presentation made by one of the bidders was found to be impressive.However, due to regulations that stipulate that at least three bids are needed, the MDDA went for a re-bid which failed to elicit any response.Talking to The Pioneer, the MDDA secretary Banshidhar Tiwari said that there has been no development in this project which has been put on hold for now due to lack of interest elicited from bidders.
It is pertinent to mention here that thousands of trees have been axed in Dehradun in recent years mainly for facilitating construction and developmental activities.Environmentalists and concerned citizens complain that the forest department does not follow proper standards while permitting the cutting of trees labelled dangerous. Most of the litchi orchards for which Dehradun was once famous have been axed to make way for buildings.
The green master plan proposal submitted to the State authorities in 2010 proposed various measures for greening the city and enhancing its existing environment like creation of botanical gardens, sacred groves and implementation of a management plan for city forests.However, observers point out that while unplanned urbanisation and construction activities have kept pace with the increasing population of Dehradun, measures proposed years ago for improving and preserving the environment of Dehradun have remained restricted to official files.