That sinking feeling is all too real

The National Green Tribunal (NGT) has appointed a commissioner to prepare a report on the massive concretisation of Ghaziabad. The court appointed the commission last Tuesday (March 3) on activist Akash Vashishtha’s plea stating that Ghaziabad, declared as a ‘critical area’ by the Central Ground Water Authority due to over-exploitation of groundwater resources, is witnessing a fall in the water-level. 

The water level fell from 16.46 metres below ground level (mbgl) in 2005 to 19.44 mbgl in 2010. The NGT said the concerned agencies, especially Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA) and Ghaziabad Nagar Nigam, have failed to install rainwater harvesting systems at public places, parks and buildings which consume the lateral soiled areas, which can act as areas of groundwater recharge and lead to wastage of precious rainwater up to 90 per cent due to increased surface run-off into stormwater drains, thus, further aggravating the crisis of water scarcity.

The petitioner urged the NGT to issue direction to the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) and Poverty Alleviation to extend its guidelines, dated July 21, 2000, on greening of urban areas, for the whole of the country and submit compliance. Because such mindless concretisation is affecting the health of the residents of the city and it is in violation of the Environment Protection Act, 1986, it was requested that GDA and Ghaziabad Nagar Nigam be directed to conduct a tree census in Ghaziabad. 

The contractors, municipal councillors and Government agencies are in collusion with each other in mindlessly laying down interlocking tiles,  Such practice is leading to huge wastage of public funds and extensive tiling/concretisation has created an ‘urban heat Ireland’, and has produced a huge warming effect, leading to manifold increase in the temperature.

On a warm sunny afternoon on May 18, 2013 in Raj Nagar, Ghaziabad, in an independent study, the temperature recorded on a grassy surface was 45°C, while that on a soiled surface was 48°C. The temperature noted above a concretised/tiled surface was a gigantic 51°C. The soil acts as a major ‘Carbon Sink’ and helps in sequestration of atmospheric carbon, thus controlling the temperature.