Mercury rising

 

 

Bhubaneswar, well-known for its ancient temples, may very soon be identified as one of the hottest capitals of the country. It became the hottest city of Orissa when the temperature touched 42 degrees on March 23. As per meteorological office records, this is the hottest-ever March in Bhubaneswar in the last five years.

In 2005, the highest temperature in March was 39.6 degrees. It climbed to 40.8 in 2006. But in 2007, 2008 and 2009 March was comparatively cool as the highest temperatures were 38.3, 38 and 39.4 degrees respectively. Though situated in the eastern coastal plains, Bhubaneswar, Orissa's capital, experiences unbearable heat when the mercury touches 45 degree Celsius during April-May every year!

Environmentalists believe that one of the major reasons behind this unprecedented rise in temperature is wanton cutting of trees. However, in Orissa, trees seem to have become the biggest enemies of both government agencies and the common folk. While there are several instances of government bodies cutting down trees in the name of development activities like widening of roads or construction of a bridge, the common man is destroying the city's green lings even for unnecessary purposes like road blockades and protests.

As per an estimate, the state witnessed more than 2,000 road blockades in different districts last year. And in a majority of these cases, trees were at the receiving end. This, however, did not include the communal riots in Kandhamal where thousands of trees were uprooted.

As Bhubaneswar grows as a city and develops in all sectors, progress has emerged as an instrument of destruction. According to the city forest division, around 4000 trees have been cut down in the last five years to widen roads in different areas of the town. Unfortunately, most of these trees were 25 to 40 years old. Around 1088 roadside trees, huge in size, were chopped off in 2005 and the numbers of such ill-fated trees were 271, 57 and 399 respectively in 2007, 2008 and 2009. And in the first three months of this year, 689 trees have vanished. Amanda Geroy, a dancer from California who has been staying in Bhubaneswar for training for the last four years, says, “It’s really shocking to see how the government has felled huge trees for the widening of roads. I know that it has a very negative impact on the environment and this has made this beautiful city colourless.” “We aren’t enemies of trees. As the traffic in the city has increased 20 times during the last few years, widening of roads is now the need of the hour to avoid accidents. We have tried our best to ensure minimum damage to the environment,” says a senior official of the Public Works Department.

The large-scale destruction of trees is already impacting Bhubaneswar’s overall atmosphere. Last summer, the mercury crossed 45 degree Celsius even in the month of June. “Here the weather was never so hot before. Along with the heat wave, water scarcity, which was confined to only some pockets of western and southern Orissa, has emerged as a major problem in the city of Bhubaneswar and its periphery. Even last year we witnessed water scarcity-related violence at many locations,” says scientist P.C. Rath.

The irony is that coastal areas, which were known for their moderate temperature, now see an average maximum temperature of well above 40 degree Celsius. Orissa has been experiencing bouts of heat wave over the last 10-plus years, with the worst heat wave being in 1998, which killed around 2200 people mostly in the coastal areas.

Not only Bhubaneswar, the entire state has been experiencing an unprecedented rise in temperature and for a region that is otherwise known for its temperate climate, this is a very alarming trend. On March 28, at least six towns in Orissa recorded temperatures of over 40 degree Celsius and two of these even crossed 42 degrees. Jharsaguda, the industrial hub of western Orissa, recorded a high of 42.4 degree Celsius. Likewise Titilagarh, one of the hottest towns of western Orissa, recorded a high of 42 degree Celsius. Other places where the maximum temperature was over 40 degrees Celsius were Sambalpur (41.5), Bolangir (40.6), Bhawanipatna (40.5) and Sundergarh.

Several other places also recorded temperatures between 38 and 40 degree Celsius. Angul recorded a high of 39.5, Malkangiri 39, Phulbani 38.2, Keonjhar 38.5 and Chandbali 38. Ranjan Panda, leading environmental activist and coordinator of Water Initiative Orissa, says, “Deforestation is a major cause of the heat wave. Analysis of the state’s rainfall and temperature variations reveals that the summers are getting longer and warmer. Further, Orissa’s weather conditions are warnings of global warming. Abnormal weather conditions are already a reality but nobody admits it.”

The rains are erratic; the winters have become warmer; and the summers longer and much worse than ever before. Leading Bhubaneswar-based environmentalist Dr Bijay Mishra says, “The trees, to a great extent, absorb the excess atmospheric heat. They thus help in balancing the environmental temperature. The mindless cutting down of trees results in erosion of the green cover, which in turn ushers in a negative impact on temperatures.”

Worried over this rapidly worsening situation, the state government has announced a massive tree plantation drive in different parts of the state. The target that has been set is 25 lakh saplings. But, unfortunately, announcements seldom go beyond the official files that they are written on!