Green move: Industry offers to adopt public parks in city areas

Tribune News Service

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, March 15

In what appears to be a green move aimed at preserving and promoting the environment in one of the most polluted cities of the country, the local industry has offered to adopt public parks in the city.

PARKS AT A GLANCE

Total parks: 892

Area: 453 acres

Large parks (1-acre or more area): 94

Area under large parks: 233 acres

Parks maintained by park management committees: 675

Area under such parks: 281 acres

Large parks maintained by management committees: 55

Area under maintained large parks: 97 acres

Parks maintained by industries under CSR: 25

Area under industry maintained parks: 139 acres

Large parks maintained by industry: 9

Area under large industry-maintained parks: 28 acres

Coming forward to make Ludhiana clean and green, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has expressed its willingness to take over the public parks and green belts spread across 453 acres in the municipal limits here.

The development assumes significance as majority of the public parks and green belts located across 159.39 sq km municipal limits, catering to over 20-lakh population in the state’s biggest and largest city, in terms of area and population, were lying in a state of utter neglect in the absence of proper maintenance and upkeep by the Municipal Corporation (MC).

The offer came quick on the heels of the Rajya Sabha MP, Sanjeev Arora, inaugurating a fountain water body and a public park renovated and maintained by a local industrialist here recently.

In a formal offer letter submitted to MC Commissioner Sandeep Rishi, the CII Ludhiana zone chairman, Lokesh Jain, proposed a collaborative approach to ensure the proper maintenance and enhancement of the public parks in the city, as per a plan chalked out by the industrial body.

“Our city is blessed with several public parks in industrial areas that serve as recreational spaces for residents of all ages. However, over a period of time, these have faced challenges in terms of maintenance, cleanliness and overall upkeep,” he wrote.

Jain noted that despite the best efforts being made by the municipal authorities, the increasing population and limited resources have made it difficult to maintain the green spaces effectively.

“Also, the green cover of our city has been rapidly declining due to the ongoing construction projects all around the area,” he mentioned while stating that it had resulted in an unprecedented rise in air quality index (AQI) levels as well as drug menace due to the non-maintenance of parks.

Sharing the proposal plan, the CII chairman said they had started a project under the banner of ‘Lungs of Ludhiana’, under which the industry body had pledged to plant 10-lakh native trees, with the Miyawaki foresting technique, of which 85,000 saplings had already been planted across various industrial units in Ludhiana.

Exploring partnerships with local industries and business houses to take responsibility for specific parks and encourage the local industries operating with Ludhiana to adopt specific parks, Jain proposed hat these industries can allocate resources, manpower and funds for regular maintenance, landscaping, cleanliness, and planting sustainable model of Miyawaki forests.

Divulging the proposed implementation plan, the CII chairman submitted that the MC can identify the parks suitable for industry adoption, based on location, size and existing condition, following which formal agreements, clearly outlining responsibilities of industry partners, could be made for regular monitoring and periodic audits to ensure compliance as per agreed-upon standards. However, the MC was yet to take call on the proposal.

“We are waiting for a positive response to benefit our community and city as well in the larger public interest,” Jain said.

Parks, green belts to improve, says MP

“The proposal is aimed at improving the condition of public parks and green belts in the city. With Ludhiana ranked among 20 most polluted cities in the country, it is the dire need to work for environment protection and promotion for providing clean and green surroundings to residents,” said Sanjeev Arora, Rajya Sabha MP

Win-win situation: CII

“By involving industries in the parks’ upkeep, we create a win-win situation. Industries will fulfill their CSR (corporate social responsibility) obligations while contributing to the well-being of our citizens and the condition of public parks and green belts will improve under the plan,” said Lokesh Jain, Chairman, CII, Ludhiana.

Among the 20 most polluted cities

Ludhiana has figured among 20 most polluted cities of the country in a latest study.

Amritsar and Mandi Gobindgarh in Punjab were also listed among the 20 most polluted cities in India with maximum pollution levels, the national-level National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) study has revealed.

While Ludhiana has been the worst among three most polluted Punjab cities with respect to PM10 pollution level, Mandi Gobindgarh has the maximum PM2.5 pollutants in the state.

The NCAP study, which was released recently, was conducted by Climate Trends and Respirer Living Sciences. It examined the annual concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 in non-attainment cities from 2019 to 2023 from the Continuous Ambient Air Quality Monitoring System (CAAQMS) data.

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