By the time anyone reads this, I’ll be on a walk down a cool tree-lined street in the Himalayan town of Dehradun. Because soon, if I do nothing, this street will no longer be either cool or tree-lined or indeed even a street. If the authorities have their way, all the trees — over 250 in a roughly two km stretch — will be cut to make way for a four-lane road.
Why do we need a four-lane road on this tiny stretch? This is a question which residents cannot really answer. A couple of years ago a few thousand trees were cut down on another road to broaden it. The upshot is a hot road — surface temperatures have risen by five to six degrees Celsius — and in addition, more parking spaces created, but no widening.
The trees might have helped parked cars which now turn into ovens. The general Indian development model appears to be — cut trees now, deal with consequences later. And what are the consequences? For Dehradun this year, unprecedented heat waves, and in two tranches.
In April and after a break, again in May and June. As our tree cover has been reduced, the extremity of heat has increased. The new master plan allows for only one per cent green cover for the city.
One per cent. As the monsoon spreads across India, we are likely to forget what has just happened. Dehradun temperatures have dropped in a day from 42 plus to the mid- to low-30s at noon.
The outlook is cloudy; a massive rainstorm has cleared the dust and soaked the ground. This is the danger zone for env.