As the violations crumble down...

Implementation of a major part of honourable Apex Court's orders is over now... debates will continue. But one question stays unanswered. What prevents the concerned officials from taking preventive measures on violation of rules and regulations, and what prevents them from even executing orders of the honourable courts?

Demolitions at maradu .... These very few seconds could have been avoided had rules were strictly followed 
Image courtesy: asianet, mathrubhumi , times

People argue at length over lack of land space, lack of facilities. But are the available, land space and facilities used properly?  Many say the buildings at maradu were to be taken over by the state and utilised for another purpose. But is that logical, why the buildings were ordered to be demolished? The ultimate aim was to recover what was lost by environment due to the rule violation. It was to regenerate the lost shore and lake, and the existed ecosystem.

Why do people encroach (or go for unauthorised constructions)?

Not just because there is no space (yes, lack of land is an issue, that necessitated vertical growth), but because they need space at a much more comfortable or profitable place. Just as a window seat is preferred by some while travelling. The rising demands on such grounds causes constructions abutting or encroaching water bodies.

Be it a shop by the national highway, or an apartment by the lakeside, all have something in common .... accessibility, visibility and aesthetics.... When a shop advertises it is next to NH near a major transport hub, business flourishes. In the same manner, a real estate with catchy tags like Lakeview, waterfront, valley view will fetch much more orders.

But what is the result? Traffic snarls on roads and bottlenecks in rivers and lakes. Right of way, a term associated with roads is valid for water bodies too. But when it comes to encroachments, this is not honoured, and worse, violations in the case of water bodies go surprisingly unnoticed. So is the right of existence for other forms of life, that thrive in the wetlands and waters.

Disasters come in the form of flood, landslides and coastal erosion .... there will be a lot of deliberations post disaster ...Then, like a social media post, they fade away .... until another disaster comes.

It is said that all departments have digital records of the land, water body, wetlands, or area they are concerned with ... yet there is no check on the changes in land use. Reports on any action that is detrimental to the environment seem disregarded. Exceptions are there, one being the recent events at Maradu. Concerned offices are deaf and blind to what happens under their own nose, in most cases. But unless these people are severely colour blind, they can distinguish colour changes on Google map at least, or can't they even?

Why are they against both prevention and cure? Won't it be wiser to prevent the first fall of axe on the trees or the stones and soil in waters than to think about and spend much more on demolishing a massive structure, and then worrying about the aftermath?

Dust cloud and concrete heap: left overs at maradu

Technology has advanced to the levels of Building Information Management (BIM) System ... yet our systems can't trace where a building is located, and at what distance from a water body or strategic place. Systems are unaware of these information, even in the case of an existing project or one in drawings stage. Is this not surprising? All these when with the advent of technologies like GIS and even mobile phone GPS, any object can be tracked with pin point accuracy. We have facilities to track the coastline changes, yet nothing to track a water body or wetland getting filled or a land extending beyond the banks, or a hill brought down?

Media and authorities repeatedly say it was the perfect coordination of departments and firms involved that accomplished maradu task near to perfection. The same coordination, had it been there at the time of construction would have saved a lot of misery.... Well, at the end of the day, it is a lesson to violators of CRZ norms, but how long will the tempo be maintained? 

The road ahead

We definitely need a coordinated approach across departments, to the level that the slightest change in land use pattern is noticed as an when it occurs. Applications for permits need to come under scanner and to be matched with a digital version of the rules and zones embedded in maps. What is needed is a full fledged monitoring system, that's alert to the blink of an eye. Such a system need to be made available to the end users  of the project, so that mistakes out of lack of awareness will be a bare minimum.

We, the humans (be it builders, other infrastructure developers, business people, technocrats, or government officials) should rise above all personal needs and choices, to work together to realise the dream of coexisting with nature. To the greatest possible extent, we need to leave environment as it is. Let's honour the rules imposed by the government while we plan an infrastructure development, real estate, or even tourism related projects.