Residents upset with loss of garden for air quality monitoring station

Hubballi: Residents of Lingaraj Nagar in Hubballi have taken up cudgels against the proposed plan to instal an air quality monitoring station on a 20ftx20ft plot, which the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) had pledged for the creation of a small garden. Given the plot’s dimensions, residents are certain that, should the station be built on the site, the garden that they have nurtured will become the casualty.
Lingaraj Nagar resident R Rajendran Iyer, a marketing professional, pointed out that they had constructed a compound around the plot where the flowers and trees of the garden now bloomed. “If the HDMC decided to use a fourth of the site for the station, nothing but the two large neem trees, which occupy nearly a third of the site, will be left of the garden. This was not the HDMC’s first choice to house the station. Residents of another locality opposed having the station in a garden there, not to mention political pressure,” Iyer told TOI.
Dr Tejaswini Patil, also a resident of Lingaraj Nagar, sought to remind the HDMC that the norms clearly stipulated that not more than 5% of the plot could be allotted for other purposes. “It was us, the residents who planted and nurtured the trees in the garden. But some of them have been axed. This is both unfair and unjust,” she said.
Fellow Lingaraj Nagar resident Santosh Shali said that neither HDMC nor the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) had divulged any information about the station. “We do not what sort of device is being installed. Nor do we know if it will be safe. They came in with earthmoving machines and started digging up the garden,” he rued.
Retired principal Prof CD Patil pointed to the abundant open spaces under HDMC’s purview that could be used for the housing of the air quality monitoring station. “Instead, they are seeking to destroy a garden. Officials must reconsider their decision. We have been repeatedly requesting them to shift the station elsewhere, but our pleas have gone unacknowledged,” Prof Patil said.
HDMC commissioner Suresh Itnal said that officials had tried to convince the residents. “But they are not listening to us. They are suggesting another location, but this place is surrounded by trees, which makes it unsuitable to house the air quality monitoring station, since it will result in the readings being inaccurate. The station is being installed under the Centre’s ‘Clean Air’ initiative. We will, however, hold a public consultation meeting,” Itnal said.
KSPCB senior environment officer Shobha Pol, however, said that the objective behind installing the station was to get a clear idea of the quality of air. “The station will provide data on the contents of the air, which will also prove beneficial to the residents. We can assure the residents that it will not be a source of nuisance. The HDMC is lending us this space at the behest of the Dharwad deputy commissioner,” she said.