Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Ranchi..Jharkhand's Summer Capital No More...

Phew... the sweltering heat makes me reach for the a/c control panel once again.. What has Ranchi come too. There was a time when my relatives would come down for "casual" visits every summer when temperatures in Jamshedpur and Kolkata soared too high... Now that Sooraj Devta has decided to show Ranchiites His might, seems we have to find a safer haven to run to.

When I look around, I understand at least some reasons why Ranchi has changed. At the first crossing after my apartment, there used to be a huge gulmohar tree. I remember it clearly because of the colours of the flowers matched the colours of my grandmother's saree.(For those of you who find this statement cheesy, may I say I am a greenhorn when it comes to horticulture..... I know almost nothing about plants)

The gulmohar tree was one of the many trees cut down to make way for wider roads and urban infrastructure.6 years later, all i see are more cars,more pollution and no trees to mitigate the effect. I believe the year on year budget surplus that the government makes cud thus be put to much better use than purchasing choppers for the CM or providing security  to celebrity cricketer(s).

Why this scenario seems more appalling is coz of my experience in Bangalore.I wouldn;t know much but I do know that in Bangalore, they don't cut the trees but make their homes around them,sometimes even keeping space for the tree to grow through their terrace.I know it doen't seem viable to do so for public roads..But at least we could plant more trees in and around the city. The only vegetation I see these days is confined to a few neighbourhoods in Ranchi...MECON,HEC etc.

The point is, in the name of infrastructural development , the authorities have turned our beloved Ranchi into a concrete jungle. Will somebody tell them that infrastructure includes well maintained public parks and gardens....!! TO add to that, I read an article in the local paper today which mentioned that the avg water level of Ranchi has dropped to 40 feet, which is alarming... I aim to use the RTI to understand exactly what steps the govt wishes to take to solve this problem.I wish others would do the same. Till then, my sympathies for the heat strokes....

Peace...(sigh!!)

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