Dear Diary,
There is a great deal of talk about the greening of Delhi since 1997. This news of verdant vistas has suddenly materialised with evidence of the same in the wake of the widespread monsoons. This subject was rarely broached when acres of keekar and wild growth areas were cleared for many square miles to make way for expensive malls where one is charged Rs.50/- on weekends just to park the car!! One just cannot approach such places otherwise, and once one marshals the courage to do so, he has to pay the price for it!!
There are several factors to take the wind out of the sails all the self-congratulatory noises the Delhi government is so used to making:1. Crores are being spent to create rather than save greenery. 50 saplings planted today under the auspices of CWG preparation cannot replace a 50 years old tree, since each sapling takes 10 years to grow to that size and that too in favourable environment.2. In 1997 the imaging technology was just not advanced enough to capture individual trees and would show only vast tracts of greenery such as the Delhi Ridge area, whereas today's temperature sensing technology can remotely capture even a sapling!!! So while all these disaggregated blips add up to a large number, showing up as green on the radar, it's potential to stay that way is highly questionable.3. What was even more appalling was Chief Minister, Shiela Dixit's way with words. When there was a record rainfall in Delhi, she did not miss a heartbeat to blame the weather Gods for the caving in roads, collapsing infrastructure and leaking and crumbling superstructure. Today, when facing the cameras for interview, she stoically paused mid-sentence when starting with the sentence to the effect, "The greening that would have taken 10 years....." and completed it by saying, "was accomplished by us in 3 years." For once, as a listener, one expected her to give some credit to the rain Gods with the same vigor as witnessed in her passing on the blame just a fortnight ago when expressing her anxiety in completing the work on time. There was no acknowledgement of the rains in greening the brown swathes of land that till July 2010, appeared arid, and today are lush green!!! Is it just because God does not vote, Ms.Dixit, or are you so confident that you can get and forget, while God, will give and forgive?? Vanity comes before the fall, Mrs.Dixit.
Green or brown, Mrs. Dixit sure has a nose for smelling out political opportunity even in God's bounty!! When such people run the country, I am mortally afraid of the consequences!! You, as voters, are being taken for a ride on the 6 lane toll expressways!!
Ashish Rai
