Darjeeling: Environmentalists here might be crying hoarse on the loss of green cover, but few have any proposals for a roadmap.
Population pressure and environment conservation issues have been rattling Darjeeling for long. Seminars are held in the town almost every two months on the need to protect the rich bio-diversity. But till date no pragmatic solutions are on offer.
An interactive session organised by Worldwide Fund for Nature and attended by governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi at the Raj Bhawan here today, too, stumbled where all similar ventures have in the past.
Forest officials presented statistics that showed Darjeeling’s forest cover as 36 per cent against the desired percentage of 60. Tea planters spoke about the population pressure on the gardens and participants raised questions on haphazard constructions.
However, when Anil Verma, the chief principal secretary of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, called for a solution to ease the burgeoning population pressure while protecting the green cover, the house could hardly offer a solution.
“This is a unique problem for Darjeeling and I do not have solutions,” Verma admitted.
Gandhi, however, appeared optimistic. He said the seminar — attended by a cross-section of the society and officials — should form a “dialogue group” to find solutions. He also stressed on the need to activate the group and make it a permanent body to meet regularly.
Gandhi’s offer was well taken going by the mood of the attentive listeners. But questions were raised on whether officials and environmentalists could bury the hatchet and work together to come up with a pragmatic roadmap.
Source: The Telegraph
Population pressure and environment conservation issues have been rattling Darjeeling for long. Seminars are held in the town almost every two months on the need to protect the rich bio-diversity. But till date no pragmatic solutions are on offer.An interactive session organised by Worldwide Fund for Nature and attended by governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi at the Raj Bhawan here today, too, stumbled where all similar ventures have in the past.
Forest officials presented statistics that showed Darjeeling’s forest cover as 36 per cent against the desired percentage of 60. Tea planters spoke about the population pressure on the gardens and participants raised questions on haphazard constructions.
However, when Anil Verma, the chief principal secretary of Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, called for a solution to ease the burgeoning population pressure while protecting the green cover, the house could hardly offer a solution.
“This is a unique problem for Darjeeling and I do not have solutions,” Verma admitted.
Gandhi, however, appeared optimistic. He said the seminar — attended by a cross-section of the society and officials — should form a “dialogue group” to find solutions. He also stressed on the need to activate the group and make it a permanent body to meet regularly.
Gandhi’s offer was well taken going by the mood of the attentive listeners. But questions were raised on whether officials and environmentalists could bury the hatchet and work together to come up with a pragmatic roadmap.
Source: The Telegraph
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