:: Delhi Greens ::

Reply to VC’s response, as the Sports Complex gears up for launching the Youth Baton Relay for the Commonwealth Youth Games 2008

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your speedy reply.

Sir, you did not solve our queries but only added to our list of issues.

1. Of course the university can do with some lot of good sporting facilities. But these need not come at the cost of existing infrastructure, and that too a natural infrastructure such as the green space that only gives us so much without asking anything in return.

2. Through the media, we were informed that the sports facility would be shifted and constructed at the University Polo Ground, which clearly does not seem to be the case.

3. The construction around the Kamla Nehru Ridge and your office, would only pose a big threat to both these entities. This would come both during the construction phase and also after the structure has been built, and unplanned Urban Planning is something we had thought would never be allowed at/by the University of Delhi.

4. The trees that are said to be transplanted are being done in a really bad manner. We talked to the workers there, who showed us some plant hormones and how they are applied, but when we checked the status of the trees in the off-campus hostels, we could tell they would not last long. However, in the absence of any data, we need to assess the percentage survival rate and need your help with that Sir.

5. Last, but never the least, you mentioned 3-5 years before the campus becomes even more green. However Sir, in this short span of a time, only those trees can grow that have been an ecological disaster for the city. But since these trees grow in the short span of time that they do, they are selected, without considering the long term environmental impacts. We hope the university and the garden committee would take note of that.

On behalf of concerned students, 
University of Delhi
.
Previously on Delhi Greens:

• Open letter to the Vice-Chancellor of Delhi University
• VC responds as Trees are taken away from the Campus

Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML), in collaboration with Har-Anand Publications invites interested citizens to a discussion on Prof. Bipan Chandra’s book, Communalism in Modern India (Revised Edition) on 4th August 2008 at 6 PM

Download Invitation

Monsoon Wooding - a Campaign by Swechha takes stock of the fast depleting greens in Delhi and Plants, Protects and Promote trees with residents of the city. Because we all need to undo some of the damage we are causing to the environment everyday, and because a ‘World Class’ city needs trees too. The Monsoon Wooding Campaign uses the monsoon and summer months of the year to mobilize as many interested citizens to plant and nurture trees in their gardens and localities.

The course of action during Monsoon Wooding is outlined by the 3 P’s:

1. PLANT – anywhere, everywhere!
2. PROTECT – trees that have been reduced to billboards.
3. PROMOTE – tree welfare, because knowledge is power!

For more details, please visit www.monsoonwooding.blogspot.com

The city needs to breathe, let’s together rescue the greens.

VC’s Response to the Open Letter regarding the greens of DU’s North Campus:

Thank you for your letter concerning trees and greens at the University. Your concern is important. The University has neither lost its essence nor values. Today the University has no facilities for sports. Our challenge is to create reasonable sports facilities and at the same time create a rich green cover. I am confident both can be done together. There may be some setback for a short period of time but in 3-5 years it will be even more green that what you are seeing today.

Deepak Pental

Vice-Chancellor

A Tree being transplanted from University of Delhi's North Campus

Vice-Chancellor

University of Delhi

Delhi - 110 007

INDIA

Dear Sir,

Hope you are doing good and keeping well. Unfortunately, and much to the shock of many, the green cover and the ‘heritage’ trees in the university campus, about 500m from your office are not.

A little over an year ago, the unscientific marking and the felling of a large number of trees in the campus was highlighted by the students and the faculty of Delhi University. This was well appreciated by you sir, with an assurance that the matter would be adequately probed. Also, after carrying out signature campaigns and submitting petitions to your office, we were further assured that the trees in the campus will be given the due importance that they deserve. However, the situation today is far from that.

The tress around the university sports complex, that were marked for felling are now being transplanted elsewhere. It is as if a foetus is being taken out from one womb and being put into another. And though it has been said that similar transplantation measures in other parts of the city largely failed to ‘deliver’, no significant measures were taken to ensure a successful transplantation drive in the campus. There were no experts present either during the digging process or when the deeply cut roots of the trees were being packed into the sacks.

The sports complex has itself been brought down with no information as to what would replace it. The fact that the sports complex is next to the Kamla Nehru Ridge and the Vice-Regal Lodge; a protected green space and a heritage site respectively, we fear that any large-scale construction may result in adversely impacting the above two sites. This will further affect the university’s ambient environment and also affect the rich biodiversity that thrives in the campus.

We therefore re-request you to kindly look into the matter urgently and ensure that the University of Delhi does not lose its very essence and values.

Yours sincerely,

Students, DU