Bhubaneswar, Oct. 5: A scientist from the Bangalore-based Indian Institute of Science (IISc) linked the uncontrolled urbanisation in Indian cities to local or regional climatic change.

At a lecture on climate change at the Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology here, scientist J. Srinivasan said: “Bangalore, which has always been known for its pleasant climate, has noticed a rise in temperature by 1.8 degree Celsius within a century. During the same period, Thiruvananthapuram has also witnessed a rise in temperature of 1.2 degree Celsius.”

Blaming poor urban planning behind the rise in the local temperatures of cities in the pan-Indian set-up, Srinivasan, said: “In Chennai, body temperature is not getting transmitted to air, causing a condition called heat-death. Medically, a human being can withstand such condition for up to 21 days in a year, but it can be fatal if it goes on for more than 80 days. We need more green cover in our cities to counter this problem.”

Saying that it is happening with all the cities in the country, including Bhubaneswar, as uncontrolled urban growth had become a common feature, Srinivasan, however, said: “All the cities are not heating in the same manner. New Delhi is recording a downfall in temperature because of aerosols (fine solid or liquid particles in the air). In fact, the entire Indo-Gangetic plane is witnessing clouds of aerosol as it is surrounded by the Himalayas on the north and Vindhyas on the south.”

Speaking on the occasion of 70th foundation day of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Srinivasan added: “Climate change will harm states such as Bengal and Odisha the most, as the rising sea-level has already started submerging coastal villages in these two states.”

In future, climate change will become a serious political problem in India, especially in Indian states such as Bengal and Odisha, while a large portion of Bangladesh is also likely to be submerged under the rising Bay of Bengal.

Warning against the overuse of groundwater, Srinivasan said the level of withdrawal of groundwater in India was four times higher than that in the developed countries. He also said that even satellite pictures taken by scientists of National Aeronautics and Space Administration over the Indian sub-continent had shown that excess groundwater withdrawal had made the gravity of the region, especially in northern India, down.

“We should not keep on irrigating land with groundwater, we should rather use water harvesting structures for the betterment of our regional climate,” said Srinivasan, who is also the chairman of the Divecha Centre for Climate Change at IISc, Bangalore.

“As we celebrate the World Habitat Day today, we must keep in mind Srinivasan’s warnings on climate change and ensure that every tree felled in Bhubaneswar is compensated by taking up more plantation sites so that greenhouse gas emissions could be controlled,” said Bhubaneswar-based urban management expert Piyush Ranjan Rout.