What is the ridge? Basic question bothering those who are trying to save it

NEW DELHI: In the 20 years since the Supreme Court ordered the preservation of the capital's green lung, the Ridge, the revenue and forest departments have managed to demarcate just one portion of the sprawling, but much encroached forest land. The revenue department informed the National Green Tribunal on August 11 that it had completed the delimitation of

Jaunapur

village in the southern

Ridge

and handed over the land to the forest department for notification.

Officials said this small step still required the addition of more portions to the demarcated land before the forest department could begin notifying the expanses as “forest“ area. The exercise is lagging behind the time frame of six months set for the forest department in 2013 by NGT for the final notification of the Ridge and the settling of the rights of people residing within its boundaries. The forest department did begin work in Asola, but the people moved NGT claiming rights to the land. It also came to light that the digitised maps prepared by the two departments did not match.

Apathy by successive governments had left the 7,700-hectare Ridge vulnerable to encroachments, and it is now entangled in litigation. Legally, the Ridge is not a reserve forest. A 1994 notification had intended to declare all forest areas in Delhi, including the Ridge, as reserve forests under Section 4 of the Indian Forest Act. But the demarcation and adjudication of land rights de mands were nev er completed.

R e c e n t l y, exasperated by the inordi nate delay in demarcation, NGT fined Delhi govern ment Rs 2 lakh. “It is regrettable to note that except for taking prevaricated stands on each occasion, the respondents are displaying clear disdainful conduct in frustrating the order of this tribunal,“ the bench said. r In its affidavit filed with NGT on August 10, the revenue department disclosed that the work of demarcating was awarded to a demarcating was awarded to a company in July . “On August 4 and 5, the final handing over of forest land to forest department was done in the presence of the district magistrate (south) and deputy conservator of forests,“ the affidavit stated. The forest department has erected pillars to mark off the forest area.

Officials said portions that appeared encroachment free on satellite maps were selected on priority for demarcation first. After Jaunapur, the revenue department has also completed the delineating of forest land in Pul Pehladpur in the southern Ridge and begun the process in Ghitorni, Rangpuri, Tughlakabad and Rajokri. “The demarcation report along with drawings has been forwarded to the forest department on Au gust 3 for necessary ac tion at their end,“ the revenue department affidavit claimed.

Forest officials revealed that noti fying of the areas as forests can be done only when the chunks were large enough. “Cur rently, we are being handed only small pockets.

Once we get a collectively large area from the revenue depart ment, we will fence it off. We expect a lot of areas to be notified by the end of the year,“ said a senior forest official.

Forest activists, however, are losing patience. Sonya Ghosh, a petitioner in the NGT, pointed out that despite ongoing litigation in the green tribunal, three illegal roads in Rajokri forest were still being used by heavy vehicles. “Forest officials are posted there and yet these vehicles are not stopped. I don't think the forest department has the will to comply with NGT orders,“ fumed Ghosh.

Ghosh alleged that the forest department had detailed maps of the Ridge but ended up demolishing a house that was legally not encroaching on the forest, with the result that the case went to court and stalled the tentative process of marking off the forest area.

Raj Panjawani, Ghosh's advocate in NGT, insisted the government had to take hard decisions. “It's very simple why the process of demarcation is taking so long. It's politics,“ he snapped. “The decision to make the Ridge encroachment free will make some people very unhappy.“