Let’s not waste this rare chance
What should come up on the 966 hectares of Mumbai Port Trust land? I would think that the answer would be obvious.
As far as possible, nothing. Or rather, Nature.
We are a city home to tens of millions, with just one patch of wilderness and even that constantly being nibbled away at. We frame our rules and rework our equations; we blame a variety of factors for the dwindling of our natural wealth — geographical factors, we say; historical causes, political and economic reasons.
In all this, we show no foresight and little intelligence.
Do all those with the vested interests really think they’ve won, every time another grove of trees falls?
When I explore my Mumbai Safari I see how fortunate are we that someone, years ago, had the foresight and intelligence to ensure that several sites were saved long before they had even really been threatened. And I worry that there seems to be no one of similar inclination calling the shots today.
We have become, at best, indifferent to Nature, either ignorant of or unmoved by the precise dynamics that keep our ecosystem afloat, healthy, beautiful; we care little about the natural grandeur still visible in snatches around us.
Seasonal flowers blooming on wild hillsides along our highways; migratory birds gathering in beautiful clouds of pink; the squirrels and the kingfishers that live side by side in areas where there are still trees lining the streets.
Now, we have a whole new swathe of ‘prime’ land to play with. It worries me that, much as we might debate and argue and work and rework our ratios and formulas, there is every likelihood that this land will be used as the mill lands were.
Then too, we had inaccessible, undeveloped space, arguments over what to do with it, and we were promised a share. There were going to be plazas, public squares, gardens. This time, we’re being promised promenades and marinas too.
Instead, on the mill lands we have tower after tower after tower. Concrete and more concrete. Less and less green. Virtually no bare earth.
We dream of being a global city. Bits and pieces are revamped, as our airport has been, to try and drag this largely unplanned megalopolis into a new century. We go from vision 2020 to 2030 to whatever will come next, but ironically we remain myopic.
And we, the people, the taxpaying, voting millions, drift along from day to day, noticing only when the destruction reaches our backyards. Even then, protesting, largely feebly, and moving on.
A city is as its citizens are and we are a busy, self-focussed lot. Around us, the birds continue to fly, nest, mate and sing, even as their numbers fall. We usually don’t even notice.
(Sunjoy Monga is a naturalist, photographer and author of numerous
books on biodiversity)