Hyderabad: Nizam College students stage protest to stave off Joshimath-like situation

Hyderabad: As part of the National Climate Strike for Joshimath, students of Nizam College staged a silent protest. Ruchith Asha Kamal, a first-year degree student at Nizam College, explained why they were talking about Joshimath in Hyderabad: "We believe that the crisis in Joshimath is not just an issue for one town, but rather another example of government inaction and poor planning that affects both people and nature.

We see the Joshimath incident and the Chevella highway project as being the same. At a time when various governments across the world are declaring a climate emergency, they are in reality doing the opposite. For the construction of roads or highways, a lot of construction equipment and heavy vehicles are used, which emit huge volumes of carbon. In the Chevella project, the official number of trees to be cut down is 15,000, but according to our reports, twice that number will be cut." "Planting trees is the only solution for carbon storage in the world, which is why many governments are planting trees," Kamal continued.

"But in India, the State government is pursuing unsustainable projects and cutting down thousands of trees. The difference between Joshimath and this issue is that the effects of the Joshimath crisis are visible, whereas the effects of the Chevella highway construction project are not visible right now. However, when our grandchildren are praying to all the gods for oxygen, we will understand the seriousness of the effects. To awaken the officials, we have organised a silent protest," Kamal added.