Our planet is supposed to be the haven for life in the known Universe but is not entirely true. Though our planet has the fundamental ingredients for life to form it also harbors harsh geological topographies. On one end of the spectrum are tall mountains and on the other vast oceans and in between hills, highlands, flatlands, lowlands, wetlands, swamps, lakes and rivers. It is the ability of different lifeforms to evolve and thrive in these varied complex environments that make our planet the haven for life it is. In this spectrum where we can live are flatlands and some of the highlands and lowlands. The higher and lower we go we become increasingly vulnerable to natural disasters.
In the picture is a part of the wetlands I frequent for my birding walks. In the monsoon season it gets filled with water and has overflowed to nearby houses in the last few years, especially during the calamitous floods that hit the state in 2018 and 2019. I asked the residents the reason for building their houses there and they told me they were able to buy land there at the budget they had and the Municipal Corporation gave them the required permission to do construction there. I explained to them that just like how electricity in lightning travels from the clouds into the Earth water flows from higher to lower areas and this is why smaller water bodies flow into rivers and rivers flow into seas.
There is already underground water in the wetlands due to which the ground is soaked for most of the year. This is why water fills up wetlands during monsoon season. The only way to construct anything in the wetlands is by filling it up with loads of mud which is unsustainable in the long run. The white buildings in the picture are apartment and business complexes which were constructed in such a way but are apparently tilting now.
Construction companies/owners who indulge in such construction are eventually blamed in case of disasters when the ones in the civil administration who give permission should be blamed. In India the judicial system is incomprehensible and opaque, rules and laws can be twisted and bent depending on the individual’s/organization’s influence on the political system and civil administration and there is no accountability on the actions of decision makers. It is illegal to do any construction in the wetlands so it is quite evident how the buildings in the photo came up.
India is bestowed with abundant natural resources largely due to Hinduism which is a pagan culture and Hindus have revered and protected nature for thousands of years. But all that has changed in the last few decades as we have started trading natural resources for money. Most of the wetlands around the Delhi region has given way to cities and residential areas and the erstwhile owners of the lands have become abundantly rich. Like many other issues plaguing the country nature conservation is a distant dream unless there are massive reforms in the judiciary, rules and laws, political system and civil administration. But what is plaguing the country the most is ignorance about nature and this needs to be addressed first.