Kolkata Municipal Corporation desires a hoarding zone
Anurag Basu - Televisionpoint.com | Kolkata
Waking up to the need to protect saplings from a section of unscrupulous outdoor advertising agency owners, the parks department of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) wants a separate zone for hoardings, in other words, a hoarding zone.
Senior parks department officials were shocked to find that over 1,000 saplings, planted across the city, have been chopped off in areas where the civic body later approved of putting up hoardings. This is the primary reason why the KMC parks department has stopped planting saplings in the city.
"From Chittaranjan Avenue in the north to Charu Market in the south, a section of outdoor hoarding agencies has been taking the help of tree hackers to facilitate the erection of hoardings. This cannot go on. We will be urging the civic top brass to earmark a special zone that will be used exclusively by the hoarding companies," says, Debasish Chakraborty, chief engineer, parks and environment, KMC.
Otherwise, the city's greenery cannot be saved, he felt. "We had been organising a green drive every year and planting saplings across the city. But stopped it a couple of years ago due to a loss of these saplings. Now, we have decided to plant saplings afresh to add more greenery to the city. However, the very purpose will be defeated if we do not allow those to be planted in a no hoarding zone," said Chakraborty.
Echoing the same demand, the state conservator of forests, Somnath Mukherjee, said unless a new zone for hoardings was created, the city's greenery will be at stake. "We need to save saplings from a section of outdoor advertising agencies, which are out to destroy the city's greenery," he said.
The forest department has already identified stretches like Alipore Road, E M Bypass and VIP Road as vulnerable to tree felling. "Several hoardings have come up in these areas and we fear that trees would be chopped," added Mukherjee.
The parks department has decided to stop plantation activities on certain stretches of the E M Bypass and VIP Road, where several trees have been felled in the past one year.
Waking up to the need to protect saplings from a section of unscrupulous outdoor advertising agency owners, the parks department of Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) wants a separate zone for hoardings, in other words, a hoarding zone.
Senior parks department officials were shocked to find that over 1,000 saplings, planted across the city, have been chopped off in areas where the civic body later approved of putting up hoardings. This is the primary reason why the KMC parks department has stopped planting saplings in the city.
"From Chittaranjan Avenue in the north to Charu Market in the south, a section of outdoor hoarding agencies has been taking the help of tree hackers to facilitate the erection of hoardings. This cannot go on. We will be urging the civic top brass to earmark a special zone that will be used exclusively by the hoarding companies," says, Debasish Chakraborty, chief engineer, parks and environment, KMC.
Otherwise, the city's greenery cannot be saved, he felt. "We had been organising a green drive every year and planting saplings across the city. But stopped it a couple of years ago due to a loss of these saplings. Now, we have decided to plant saplings afresh to add more greenery to the city. However, the very purpose will be defeated if we do not allow those to be planted in a no hoarding zone," said Chakraborty.
Echoing the same demand, the state conservator of forests, Somnath Mukherjee, said unless a new zone for hoardings was created, the city's greenery will be at stake. "We need to save saplings from a section of outdoor advertising agencies, which are out to destroy the city's greenery," he said.
The forest department has already identified stretches like Alipore Road, E M Bypass and VIP Road as vulnerable to tree felling. "Several hoardings have come up in these areas and we fear that trees would be chopped," added Mukherjee.
The parks department has decided to stop plantation activities on certain stretches of the E M Bypass and VIP Road, where several trees have been felled in the past one year.
|
Copyright 2005 - 2009 Televisionpoint.com. All rights reserved. A Bhash Media Private Limited Company.
This site is best viewed in Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher versions, at a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels.