A voluntary organisation launched a protest here Sunday against concretisation of areas around trees along streets and in residential areas, and claimed this would cause serious ecological imbalance.
"For hefty commissions, politicians and officials are concretising the open green areas without assessing medium and long-term disastrous consequences," said environmentalist Akash Vashishtha.
"Concretisation of areas around trees prevents percolation of rain water into the ground and thus prevents natural recharge of ground water aquifers, reduces rain catchment areas, depletes the water table and adds to global warming," he added.
"Not a single inch of ground surface in the city, especially in residential areas, has been spared from tiling," he added.
Ghaziabad has been declared a critical area by the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) on the basis of its depleting ground water.
Despite orders from the Delhi High Court and the National Green Tribunal to leave space around the base of trees open, concretising is continuing in Ghaziabad.