Bhubaneswar’s Vanishing Green Belt

— By | Sashi Sekhar Samanta|
Cities rarely lose their identity overnight. The erosion is slow—quiet, subtle, and often unnoticed until the damage becomes irreversible. Bhubaneswar, once celebrated as one of India’s greenest and most thoughtfully planned cities, now finds itself in the middle of such a transformation. The green belt that once wrapped the capital with shade, balance, and ecological comfort is thinning at an alarming pace. What remains is a patchwork of fragmented trees, shrinking parks, and expanding concrete.
This decline is not merely an environmental issue. It is a warning—an indicator of how quickly urban ambition can swallow urban wellbeing.
A City Built on Green Ideals :  When Otto Königsberger conceptualized Bhubaneswar in the 1940s, he imagined a city where roads were wide, neighbourhoods balanced, and green buffers provided both climate control and aesthetic coherence. For decades, the city honoured that vision. Boulevards with canopies of peepal, banyan, and gulmohar gave Bhubaneswar its character. Housing colonies were designed with open courtyards and generous tree cover. Even government institutions were woven into a landscape that prioritised shade over spectacle. But today, these strengths feel like memories of a different era.
The Pressure of Rapid Urbanisation :  Bhubaneswar’s growth over the past 15 years has been rapid, relentless, and largely horizontal. As the city expanded towards Patia, Khandagiri, Tamando, and beyond, green buffers were the first to disappear. The demands of real estate, commerce, and infrastructure left little room for environmental negotiation.
The results are visible everywhere: Residential colonies where open areas have shrunk into parking lots, Commercial pockets rising on once forested outskirts ,Encroachment into natural drainage channels ,Road widening projects that sacrifice old trees without adequate replacement ,A growing preference for ornamental landscaping instead of native species. The Smart City Mission promised sustainability, but implementation leaned heavily towards concrete-driven urban renewal. Intelligent traffic systems and modern streets are valuable, but they cannot compensate for the loss of a living ecosystem. Bhubaneswar’s green belt is not just aesthetic cover; it is an organism that supports the city’s daily life.
 Natural Cooling Mechanism: The city’s temperatures have risen steadily. Local heat islands—once rare—are now common near Nayapalli, Jaydev Vihar, Patia, and Rasulgarh. Trees are nature’s only long-term cooling infrastructure. Losing them is equivalent to dismantling the city’s natural air-conditioning.
Groundwater Recharge : Shrinking green cover reduces soil permeability. As rainwater fails to seep in, groundwater levels decline, and flooding increases. The irony is that Bhubaneswar is now experiencing both water scarcity and waterlogging—problems that trees help balance.
Biodiversity Collapse : Once, Bhubaneswar’s green strips hosted birds, small mammals, butterflies, and a variety of native flora. Today, increased construction has disrupted these microhabitats, turning the city into an increasingly sterile landscape.
Air Quality Decline : Even though Bhubaneswar fares better than metro cities, pollution levels are rising fast due to vehicle growth and construction dust. Trees act as natural air purifiers, trapping particulates and stabilizing air composition.
Mental and Social Wellbeing : Parks and green spaces are more than recreational spots—they are social equalizers. They offer a place for families, children, and elders. The shrinking of these spaces directly affects quality of life, particularly for lower-income families without private outdoor access. The vanishing green belt is therefore not a cosmetic concern—it is a structural threat to the city’s future.
Several factors have converged to produce the current crisis: Poor Enforcement of Planning Norms - The original city plan included clear green borders, but expansions have ignored these limits. Unplanned growth has overwhelmed regulatory mechanisms. Commercial Pressure on Urban Land - Land values in Bhubaneswar have skyrocketed. Open spaces, once seen as public assets, are now viewed as real estate opportunities.  Inadequate Compensatory Plantation- For every tree felled, plantations are promised but rarely monitored. Even when saplings are planted, survival rates remain dismally low. Over-built Public Infrastructure - Road expansions and public works often prioritise speed over sustainability. Footpaths and medians are redesigned without integrating green elements. Fragmented Urban Governance -The overlapping roles of BDA, BMC, and Forest Department lead to unclear accountability. Green cover falls between the gaps.Saving the city’s green belt requires more than symbolic plantation drives and occasional environmental campaigns. It needs policy, discipline, and collective will.
 A Legally Protected Urban Green Belt,Bhubaneswar must define and notify a green belt zone—non-negotiable, inviolable, and protected. This zone should prevent unchecked construction and preserve ecological corridors. Native Tree Restoration Programme ,Native species—banyan, neem, peepal, kadamba, asan, jamun—must replace the growing trend of exotic ornamentals. Native species offer shade, biodiversity, and climate resilience. Green Audit of All Public Projects ,Every road expansion, building project, or smart-city intervention must undergo a mandatory green audit to ensure ecological integrity is maintained. Reclaiming Dead Public Spaces ,Unused government lands, old encroachment sites, and neglected medians can be transformed into micro-forests and small urban parks. Community Stewardship, Local RWAs, schools, and volunteer groups should be empowered to adopt stretches of green cover, ensuring accountability where government monitoring is weak. Protecting Drainage Channels as Green Corridors ,The natural drainage system—already under pressure—can serve as green pathways if protected from construction and encroachment. Transparent Monitoring of Plantation Drives , Public dashboards showing sapling survival rates, location-based audits, and annual reports can ensure honesty in greening initiatives.
The Moral Question : At its core, the fight to save Bhubaneswar’s green belt is not about trees alone—it is about the kind of city we wish to leave behind. Do we want a capital that grows from the outside but shrinks on the inside? Do we want progress measured in buildings, not wellbeing? Do we want to inherit a city that is easy to build but difficult to live in? These are questions the city must answer collectively.
Bhubaneswar’s green belt is vanishing, but it is not yet gone. What is disappearing is not inevitable—it is reversible. Every city faces a defining moment when it must choose between unchecked expansion and sustainable balance. Bhubaneswar is at that moment now. If the city acts decisively, it can reclaim its identity as a planned, breathable, human-centred capital. If it does not, the loss will be permanent—not just for trees, but for generations who will inherit a hotter, harsher, and less humane city.
The choice is simple. The consequences are not.