GUWAHATI, May 31 � The Assam Real Estate Infrastructure Development Association (AREIDA) has welcomed the plantation drive undertaken by the State Government and the administration in Guwahati and pledged its active participation in this �Green Guwahati� initiative.
AEREIDA said in a statement that the massive illegal destruction of the city�s green cover was a hazard which no bona-fide citizen could afford to ignore. �In fact, nature is already hitting back with a vengeance in the form of floods, landslides, water-logging, dust pollution and heat waves. In the current heat wave, official estimates put the death toll at over 2,000 in India and it is estimated that the frequency and intensity of such heat waves are going to increase in the future,� AREIDA president PK Sharma said.
In this scenario, the statement added, the plantation drive is a noble initiative of the Government, and AREIDA members in a recent general meeting formed a committee to undertake a special plantation drive in all vacant spaces of apartment buildings in Guwahati and contribute significantly to greening of the city.
Sharma also rued the fact that the rule of law pertaining to construction controls for the past several decades has been limited to only private �miyadi patta� land, with all other constructions -- be in government land, protected areas, forests, eco-sensitive hills, wetlands and natural drainage channels � having been completely outside the ambit of law.
�If this state of affairs continues, a disaster is eminent. It is therefore absolutely essential to bring the rule of law to bear on all forms of constructions,� he said.
