Demand to save KBR Park gets shriller

Hyderabad: The demand for saving KBR Park from shrinking due to the proposed mutli-flyovers around the national park grew louder as close to 2,000 people including school and college going students joined the activists to protest here on Sunday. Kaajal Maheshwari of CFH said “Hyderabad has the lowest green percentage of 7.6 percent when compared to any city in India and has seen the sharpest decline in green cover in the last 20 years. Climate change is real and we are already experiencing temperatures touching 45 degrees in summer. From water being right beneath our feet, we now survive on tankers for water. Air pollution is clearly on the rise and our AQI is not far behind Delhi. Instead of preserving and improving what makes this city livable we are actually racing to go the Delhi way.”

Around 300 students of Khushbbo Vidya Niketaan School took part in the rally holding charts. Priyanka, a 6th standard student, said, “Protecting environment is your duty not promoting flyovers.” The volunteers Nivruthi and Sharvani stated, “Hyderabad’s green lungs have to be saved as they serve as the only place which provide fresh air and homes for a number of birds and animals.” They had a march across the walkway and a prayer session holding candles for the 10 trees which were cut down. Marri Sashidhar Reddy, former MLA, said, “On one side, the government is promoting Haritha Haram at the same time chopping trees at the park. It is strange that people in Hyderabad are still sleeping. They need to realize that the green lungs of their city are in danger.

Sravan, a volunteer said, “It’s high time people wake up and join hands for protection of this park and just signing the petition on our FB page the ‘citizens for Hyderabad’ and ‘save KBR.com ‘ would render a great support.” The citizens have sent more than 500 emails and 10,000 signatures on the website and have signed more than 500 postcards by Sunday. He adds, “On December 18, 2015 a proposal was sent by the state of Telangana to declare 25m to 30m of ESZ (which completely protects the walkway) and was published. It did not receive any objections in the allotted 60-day period. Instead of going ahead and declaring the entire walkway as the eco-sensitive zone, the MOEF deliberately waited for 545 days so that the proposal would lapse and enabled the State to give a fresh proposal to accommodate their flyover project. This new proposal was published on October 30, 2018.”

BY Nihad Amani