Mumbais green cover in danger zone

GREEN COVER IN RED

Constant sea breeze, hugging mangroves and the adjoining Sanjay Gandhi National Park are among natures gifts to Mumbai, and yet the citys Environment has suffered due to an everincreasing urban sprawl. Wetlands encroached in Dahisar West for bus parking, slums and illegal garages and other structures Heavy traffic, spreading concrete, vastly diminishing open spaces, erratic weather and limited sports avenues have ensured that in terms of Environment, Mumbai was perceived as being among the worst of eight mega-cities by urbanites interviewed in The Times Of India-IMRB Quality Of Life Survey. Tree-lined Bangalore came out tops, closely followed by Delhi. Would citizens prefer to live amidst the green parks of Bangalore, the lush tree cover of Delhi or the constant sea breeze of Mumbai? Unfortunately for the countrys financial capital, urbanites in eight mega-cities interviewed for The Times Of IndiaIMRB Quality Of Life Survey overwhelmingly ranked the city last along with Kolkata in terms of Environment. According to the perception of urban Indians, Mumbai which

secured an abysmal rating of 2.1 on a scale of 1 to 5 lost out to Bangalores pleasant climes, Hyderabads sprawling sports grounds and Delhis unpolluted air, among other factors. Environmental experts said Mumbai has lost its natural advantage of being by the sea due to its haphazard concrete development. Others cited scarcity of land due to the city being able to expand only northward. While the survey laid threadbare urbanites perception that Bangalore is the most green of the eight cities, disturbingly Bangalore itself secured a mediocre rating of just 2.9. This shows the respondents did not rate the countrys major cities high on environmental grounds. The Environment category, one of seven in the TOI-IMRB opinion poll, included weather, quality of air, open spaces and sports facilities and culture. Mumbai was rated the worst in the latter two categories. Urbanites viewed the citys open space facilities as the poorest, rating them 1.8, as opposed to Delhis, which got the highest rating of 2.9. Mumbais sports facilities, too, attracted a ranking of just 2.2.