What happened in Bangalore recently due to rain was expected to happen some day.
Bangalore ( Bengaluru) in 1980s boasted of hundreds of lakes and ponds, rather it was called as a city of lakes and gardens but a recent report on lake encroachment, in Bengaluru Urban district, mentioned that 88 lakes covering an area of 1,307 acres have completely disappeared and 80% of the existing lakes are contaminated.
In 2018, Bellandur lake caught fire due to toxic waste floating on the water surface that raged for almost 30 hours. Being the largest lake of Bangalore it carries bulk of city’s sewage. In addition to raw sewage, illegal effluents are also dumped into the body containing chemicals and oils.
Till a few years ago, another lake , called as Varthur lake was a hub for migratory birds from South Asia but as the sewage started seeping in aquatic life terminated, and eventually birds stopped visiting.
The issue is not only contamination but also of disappearance. The greedy politicians, bureaucrats, contractors, after Bangalore became the IT hub constructed shopping complexes, office complexes over the Ponds. The environmentalists, the right minded citizens kept warning the people and the Administrators but as usual they were humiliated , harassed and called ; anti Development, urban Naxalites, libtards and the construction , and degradation of environment went on ; some times in the name of Development, at times in the name of religion and traditions.
People from all parts of the country kept walking in for jobs and Bangalore kept expanding and kept submerging the lakes to accommodate the increasing population and politicians, bureaucrats and contractors kept pocketing the riches.
So, we ourselves destroyed the Beauty and as Gandhiji had once said ; EARTH HAS ENOUGH TO MEET OUR NEEDS BUT NOT OUR GREEDS. The nature has paid back this year.
Today is the time to ask ourselves ; HOW MANY PLOTS/ SHOPS/FLATS DO I OWN ?
As a matter oof fact we need just ONE House to Live.
This is the story of every Indian city be it Delhi, Mumbai, Simla, Mussorie, Nainital, Dehradun , Bhopal , Pune, etc., It is not only about lakes , we have not even spared the air.
The AQI of Tokyo which has a population of 3 crores plus is 36 whereas Bangalore which has a population of one crore plus has an AQI of 53 and Delhi hovers around 145 and above.
Our greedy politicians , beuraucrats and businessmen are destroying each and every city.
The WHO recommends at least 9 square metres of green space per capita, in Bengaluru, it is only 2 two square metres per capita. What is in your city ? Is it not worthwhile to find and tighten the politicians of our area on this who are sanctioning Buildings and Buildings and pocketing huge sums of money for themselves and their party.
We are virtually sitting on an environmental disaster, if Pakistan has faced it this year, it could be India’s turn next year.
There are few lessons to be learnt from what is happening around us in particular on the climatic front ;
One, Changing names of cities and roads and Symbolism does not matter. Nature is too powerful.
Two. Being religious does not matter. Nature does not care which God you worship, How you worship and What traditions you follow, what Hawans and Yagayas we do.
Three, The Politicians and the Administrative machinery they control are defunct, corrupt to the core and lack vision.
Four. Nature has intelligence, Consciousness and patience - what we call the threshold level. Once we cross that threshold level and test its patience long enough, the nature reacts and no one can then withstand its fury even the mountains and rocks crumble down.
Five. Nature wants us to live in harmony with everything around ; trees, water bodies, animals, plants , human beings and so on.
The message is LOUD AND CLEAR ; If you do not care for nature it will hit back with all its fury.
Many scientists are saying that we have already crossed the tipping point so tokenism is not going to work.
There is only one God and that is MOTHER NATURE and it does not care whether you worship it every morning or not , all it looks at is ; Do we genuinely Care for it , love it, nurture it and live in harmony with it.