All this is sound thinking but it is important that we see follow-ups and these gardens should come up within a designated timeline. Once these are made, we have to ensure that they are maintained, both by the authorities and the public, too, for who they are created.

Meanwhile, it is disappointing that we see dichotomies like these. While there is an earnest effort being made to increase green cover, and this is now directly linked to liveability index, we see activists hauled off by authorities when they dare to ask questions about cutting of trees. We have credible reports about mangrove devastation. Green warriors continue to fight uphill, enervating battles, going head-to-head with authorities in the steady denudation of green cover. Any open patch of land is swiftly and aggressively taken over. Old trees are dying because of extreme concretisation.

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It seems ironical that go green programmes are on an uptick while such ‘crimes’ are not taken heed of and continue with impunity. We want to see new green spaces but saving the old ones are as important. So is looking at the environment through a holistic prism.