“Any environmental damage affects the locals first; therefore, it is imperative that we identify local stakeholders and resources to make Bangalore clean and green,” he said.

He was speaking at a meeting held by the BBMP and the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) to discuss the concept of ‘Clean city-green city’. Stakeholders including land developers, architects, urban planners, local residents and corporates were invited for the meeting.
Filmmaker and environmentalist Suresh Heblikar took a critical view of the “mindless expansion” of the City.

“The peripheral areas of Bangalore have to be protected and there must be awareness amongst those who are inadvertently causing damage to the topography of Bangalore by unregulated quarrying and sand mining,” he said. Low-lying areas in the City were increasingly being flooded during rains due to the damage caused to the topography in the peripheral areas of Bangalore.

Meena said that the initiative can only be taken forward via strategic intervention. On waste management, he said “Often it is the urban elite and educated who are responsible for dirtying the city with excessive use of plastic and indiscplined disposal of waste,” he said.

Several delegates raised concerns about the garbage management systems implemented by builders, architects and developers. One of the proposals was to make sure that liquid waste is not disposed from the apartment complexes and townships built by developers and regulating solid waste.

Chairman of the Karnataka Chapter of the IGBC, Syed Mohammed Beary made a presentation on the importance of the concept of ‘clean and green’. He explained the importance of trees to the urban environment and said that the BBMP should consider tree transplantation instead of tree cutting. Other issues discussed at the meeting included rain water harvesting, reviving green cover and lakes.