Open space grabbing spree

When there are specific legislations relating to wet lands, we wonder why their conservation as an environmental asset should present any difficulty. Apparently, loopholes perceived to be rooted in the processes of land acquisition or lake delimitation are exploited and manipulated by interested parties, one suspects with full connivance of the land administrators, to the benefit of both sides, but surely at the expense of public good and the state's interest.

The essential thing to realise is that our metropolis has been subjected to unplanned urbanisation; it's an overcrowded, highly polluted, and badly administered city. The deteriorating environmental conditions are making the metropolis less livable by the day. Under such circumstances, it is imperative for the government to ensure the preservation and upkeep of all the open spaces and wet lands, so that the livability of the capital is restored and enhanced.

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To this end, we would like to suggest the following for the government's urgent consideration. First, the government should put an embargo on any further changes to the topography of all wet lands and open spaces. Second, the legal complications pertaining to manipulated documentation must be untangled and the loopholes in the law eliminated, once and for all. Last but not least, the government must constitute a high-powered inter-ministerial committee and task it to look into the existing legal framework that governs management of these lands, identify its lacunae and devise ways and means to clear up the documentation mess that has piled up over the years. Fourth, the government should entrust the management of water bodies, open space and parks, preferably to one single authority.

There were directives from the Prime Minister to restore the original status of the lakes through legal means against grabbers of wet lands which have lapsed on account of non-compliance.

We implore the PM now to reactivate her directives, so that the lakes and open spaces of the metropolis are saved and the city is made livable on a sustainable basis.