Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) Director General Sunita Narain said it is a challenge for the people of Amaravati to ensure that the new capital city is built in such a manner that they can live in sync with nature.
Replying to a question on the likely impact of constructing the city on fertile lands and along the Krishna river floodplains, after delivering the 5th Chukkapalli Pitchaiah Endowment Lecture here on Monday, Ms. Narain said the question for the Government of Andhra Pradesh was whether it was building the city in the old model on huge tracts of land and consuming enormous quantities of water for it or in a manner that was frugal, which had limited water and land footprints.
Climate change
“Your government is embarking on an extraordinary moment of building a new city, which should be known as the world’s most resource-efficient city,” she observed.
In her lecture, Ms. Narain said the world was tottering on the brink of a severe climate change as the growth-at-any-cost model of economic development was resulting in the destruction of natural resources. Unless the conservation of water, land and forests was given priority, climate change was going to have a more debilitating impact on the planet year after year. Narsapuram MP Gokaraju Gangaraju, CPI (M) State secretary P. Madhu, Chukkapalli Pitchaiah Foundation secretary Ch. Arun Kumar and others were present. They presented the Chukkapalli Foundation Award to Ms. Narain. Prof. A. Ramachandraiah of the National Institute of Technology (Warangal) presided.