A MURDER is a murder, irrespective of who has committed it. On one hand, the authorities concerned have been turning a blind eye towards proper maintenance of green cover of the city. On the other, citizens also have been working hard to become a party to destruction of green cover.

One can see umpteen examples of the neglect and carelessness of Nagpurians, as far as trees are concerned. Shameless approach towards environment protection is on display along the roads, in the form of garbage dumped at the base of the tree trunks. If construction debris are dumped at the base of a tree at one place, plastic and other waste is found at the other.

At several places in the city, including the posh parts of West and South-West Nagpur, people appear to be using the space created at the base of tree trunk for dumping garbage. Broken glasses, stones, plastic bags, wooden planks, broken tiles, sack-loads of solid waste generated in households and offices in the tall buildings nearby, discarded clothes, used styrofoam cups, fruit and food waste... and the list goes on. You name a waste, and you find it. Sadly, no one is held guilty of such a crime against environment. The scene is common in areas dotted by Government offices, private establishments, and households... without exception.

Fumes created due to the dumping of waste material are badly affecting trees. In monsoon, along with rainwater, toxic part of the waste gets percolated in soil. Obviously, instead of nutrition,

the roots of the trees get poison. As if this brutality against trees is not enough, some people also use the base of tree trunks to burn the waste. The flames and soot leave the trees gasping for breath. It is nothing but strangulation of a tree.

But, who cares?

The civic authorities in particular are not bothered to tighten up supervision to ensure that garbage is removed swiftly from various spots of the city. And, the citizens think that their responsibility is over once they dump the garbage at a spot that is ‘away’ from their compound. Trees are dying, sandwiched between the neglect of the authorities concerned and apathy of the citizens. In fact, there are places where the tree-guards have fortunately survived the assaults by scrap-dealers. But, in such cases, ‘smart’ citizens of the ‘smart’ city have found a dust-bin that can hold more waste. Of course, there are a few Nagpurians who are concerned about saving trees. But, there is an overwhelmingly big number of Nagpurians who are least bothered about green cover in surroundings.

(Pics by Satish Raut and Anil Futane)