AT Photo: Uprooting of tea bushes and trees in a section of South Jalan Nagar tea estate within Dibrugarh city underway
Dibrugarh, Nov 28: The uprooting of tea bushes and the huge shade trees from South Jalan Nagar tea estate along the Convoy Road of the city has sparked protests from a significant section of the conscious citizens, who are of the opinion that the green cover acted as lungs of the city as the plantation area attached to the city was contributing the ecological balance of the highly urbanized hub.
The protesting citizens under the banner of 'Sustainable Green Dibrugarh' have written letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, urging their immediate intervention in protecting and preserving the existing urban green cover areas of the city. The organization highlighted that Dibrugarh, which is known as the 'tea city', is gradually being pushed towards destruction due to loss of green cover and forest.
Fearing the impending negative environmental impact due to destruction of green cover, engineer-cum-lawyer Srimanta Bordoloi, writer Juri Borah Borgohain, Manoj Baruah, Biswajit Phukan, Subrata Barman and several others who addressed newsmen on Wednesday said that they are opposed to the destruction of the existing green cover within the city. Apart from preserving the nearby tea gardens, green cover and forest areas, they also demanded protection of all water bodies and wetlands.
“We are not at all against development but we want sustainable development. If the plantation area of the South Jalan Nagar tea estate is commercially unproductive for the tea garden management, let the area be acquisitioned by the government to convert the portion into an 'urban jungle' with an objective of sustainable development. This will contribute to the environment equilibrium," stated Bordoloi.
While calling for converting the city into a sustainable and eco-friendly natural hub, the organization also asked the authorities to comply with the Guideline for Conservation, Development and Management of Urban Greens prepared by the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change, (Forest Policy Division and Urban Greening Guideline).
