Environmentalists and civil society activists here vowed to campaign against the Strategic Road Development Plan (SRDP) under which several trees might be felled in KBR Park.
At a meeting here on Sunday, they demanded that the SRDP be scrapped, and a more environment-friendly approach be taken to implement projects in the city.
Lubna Sarwath, convenor, Save Our Urban Lakes (SOUL), said that the State government should set emulative models instead of following unsustainable ones, which damage the environment of Hyderabad.
In the meeting, which was also attended by members from other organisations, the activists put forth an alternative to the SRDP called the Safe Bicycle Riding and Pedestrian Promotion Plan (SBRPPP). Dr. K. Babu Rao, former chief scientist of the CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), also censured the State government for proposing to fell trees in KBR Park.
Environmental activist Sangamitra Malik read out a poem on the Hussainsagar lake, and the damage done to it over the years.
Ms. Sarwath said that she and other like-minded groups will be mobilised to campaign against the SRDP in the coming days.
Among their demands, the activists also wanted the State government to constitute a Hyderabad think-tank with knowledgeable persons from the city to whet through its proposals before approval.
They pointed out that the KBR park is a picturesque green-rocky landscape and that any damage to it will harm the city and its citizens on the whole.
