Fight for a forest

RAVI AGARWAL
From where comes this greenery and flowers?
What makes the clouds and the air?
– Mirza Ghalib

THE battle for protecting Delhi’s

green lungs, its prehistoric urban forest, has never been more intense than
now. The newly global city, located in
a cusp formed by the tail end of the 1.5
billion year old, 800 km long Aravalli
mountain range as it culminates at the
river Yamuna, is the aspirational capital of over 15 million people.
The hilly spur known as the
Delhi Ridge once occupied almost

48

SEMINAR 613 – September 2010

15% of the city’s land, though much

of it has been flattened. The deciduous arid scrub forest of the ridge still
provides an unique ecosystem, which
today lies in the heart of the modern
city, and is critical for its ecological
health. Though citizen’s action has
managed to legally protect 1 about
7800 ha of the forest scattered in four
* Ravi Agarwal is member of Srishti and
founding Director of Toxics Link, both environmental NGOs. He has been involved in
the
ridge campaign since 1992, and was inducted
into the Ridge Management Board in 2005.
He is an engineer by training.
distinct patches, the fight for the ridge
forest has been long and is ongoing.
Land is scarce, with competing uses
in the densely populated city, surrounded by increasingly urbanized
peripheral townships of Gurgaon,
Faridabad and Noida.
The Aravali range which enters
Delhi through its southwest boundary
splits into two spurs, one travelling a
short distance eastwards towards
Tughlaqabad, the other forking off
westwards to end 40 kms away in the
North. The plateau-like arms had
bounded the various cities over time,
and only in post independence India,
were they blasted to extend it in order
to accommodate thousands of new
migrants. This trend has continued
unabated, and the ridge is now unrecognizable.
Massive residential colonies,
several religious institutions, universities and security force camps have
been allotted land on the ridge. The
four isolated forest patches which still
remain, were once contiguous. Even
these bounded patches – the Asola
Wildlife Sanctuary (6200 ha, southern
ridge), Sanjay Van (633 ha, south central ridge), the central ridge (864 ha,
behind Rashtrapati Bhavan) and the
northern ridge (87 ha, Delhi University) – are under pressure from other
‘use’ claims. Other ridge areas have
unfortunately not received protection
under forest laws, but been left free
to be used as per the dictates of the
city master plan, leading to many
conflicts.

large forest in the midst of a dense,

highly urbanized and growing city is
an unusual blessing, its ecological
functions probably more needed
today than ever before. The ridge forest acts like a green lung for the city’s
polluted air, allows a rich biodiversity to exist in it, lowers the ambient
temperature and acts as a noise buffer,

besides protecting the city from desert

sands blowing in from Rajasthan
(south of Delhi). Most importantly, for
an increasingly water scarce city, the
ridge forest and the river Yamuna once
formed a network of water channels,
though most of them have been lost or
highly fragmented.
Once, many small streams and
nullahs originated from the ridge and
drained into small and large waterbodies, which ultimately emptied into
the river. Today, large water bodies
such as the Najafgarh jheel (now an
industrial area), or the Hauz Khas
jheel are dry. Many nullahs which
crisscrossed the city as streams carrying water to the river, have turned
into open sewers and are now being
covered up for making roads.

he fractured and porous quartzite

rocks helped the ridge serve as a
groundwater recharge zone. The scrub
forest was once rich in animal and
plant life. There are records of foxes,
porcupines, chinkaras and black-bucks,
though now it is mainly neelgai and
smaller animals like hares that can be
seen. Bird life still abounds, with birds
of prey like the shikhra or passage
migrants, along with more than 150
other species. However, much of the
original vegetation has been overtaken by exotic species like ‘vilayati
kikar’, or Prosipis juliflora.2 Also, in
the past, the elevation of the ridge
provided a vantage point over the
northern plains of the Punjab, providing the city both ecological as well as
military security. Many related old
structures still exist on it, including the
city built by the sultans of the Slave

1. Declared as a Reserve Forest under Section

4 of the Indian Forest Act, 1924, in 1994.
2. Kalpavriksh, The Delhi Ridge Forest,
Decline and Conservation. Delhi, 1991, and
Pradip Krishen, Trees of Delhi: A Field Guide.
Dorling Kindersley and Penguin Books, 2006,
pp. 24-25.

Dynasty in the 13th and 14th centuries

and marked by the towering Qutab
Minar.

ven though the Delhi Ridge forest

has had a long history of protection, it
is now battling against being diverted
for ‘development’. There are early
records of afforestation by Firoz Shah
Tughlaq for hunting, and of the British planting trees on it.3 Even in 1878,
parts of the area were declared as a
Reserve Forest under the Indian Forest Act, 1878. Later between 1913 and
1948 additional areas received protection on the northern and central ridge.
In 1980, 20 sites in the northern, southern and central ridge were declared as
protected under forest laws. More
recently, in 1986, the Lt. Governor of
Delhi declared 1880 ha of forest in the
southern ridge as the Asola Wildlife
Sanctuary. By 1991, an additional 840
ha of the Bhatti mines area were
brought under the Asola Sanctuary.
Though many of the earlier
notifications were never withdrawn,
their current validity has become uncertain, especially since many ground
markers have disappeared. With the
formation of the Delhi Development
Authority (DDA) in 1957,4 Delhi
undertook the task of urban planning.
The first master plan (1962) recognized the need to conserve and protect the ridge
as a natural forest, but
offered no legal protection to it, as forest laws did. Hence, when major chunks

3. For a detailed discussion on this, see

Michael Mann and Samiksha Sehrawat,
‘A City With a View: The Afforestation of
the Delhi Ridge, 1883-1913’, Modern Asian
Studies, 2008, pp. 543-570, Cambridge University Press. First published online 25
September 2008.
4. The Delhi Development (Provisional)
Authority – DDPA – was constituted through
a Delhi (Control of Building Operations)
Ordinance, 1955 which was replaced by the
Delhi Development Act, 1957, with the primary objective of ensuring the development
of Delhi in accordance with a plan.
SEMINAR 613 – September 2010

49
of the ridge land were transferred to
the Delhi Development Authority in
1992, despite earlier forest notifications, it raised a public alarm.

he recent fight to protect the ridge

forest began in the mid eighties by student groups like Kalpavriksh, who
tried to stop tree felling, or the building of transmission towers on it, even
prompting intervention by Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi.5 But it was
only in the wake of the 1992 order that
matters came to a head. For those who
had grown up walking in the forest or
bird watching, this was both a deathknell and a call to action. The moment
converted ordinary citizens into activists. Voluntary organizations and citizens
came together under the banner
of the Joint NGO Forum to Save the
Delhi Ridge with prominent NGOs
like WWF, Kalpavriksh, Srishti spearheading the action.
It was truly a moment of passion.
School children marched through the
streets of Delhi carrying banners they
had painted, residents organized colony
meetings, activists devised new slogans, gathered supporters and confronted the
politicians as the media
carried the story day in day out, even
airing ‘save the ridge’ spots during
prime time news. Eminent citizens
signed petitions and wrote letters proclaiming the Delhi Ridge forests as the
‘green lungs’of the city. As the city was
experiencing massive air pollution
from a new influx of motor vehicles,
the campaign struck a vital chord.6

50

5. Mahesh Rangarajan writes that Indira Gandhi ‘took steps to secure the city
forest in the
summer of 1980, when petitioned by a student
group. What the group was unaware of was her
central role a few years earlier in getting key
Indian Air Force installation modified to preserve the skyline as well as the
integrity of the
forest.’ Mahesh Rangarajan, ‘Striving For a
Balance: Nature, Power, Science and India’s
Indira Gandhi, 1917-1984’, Conservation &
Society 7(4), 2009. [Link]
[Link]
SEMINAR 613 – September 2010

There were, however, fundamental differences on how the idea of

‘green’ was understood. The Delhi
Development Authority (DDA) saw it
as a ‘regional park’, manicured like
the Buddha Jayanti and Mahavir
Jayanti Parks on the central ridge. It
argued that citizens needed jogging
tracks, benches, grass ‘clear of snakes’,
and that protecting the ridge like a
‘wild’ forest would harbour antisocial elements. Many citizens, on the
other hand, wanted the forest as an
ecosystem whose biodiversity could
only survive when the grasses and
shrubs were left for animals, birds and
insects to feed and nest in. Parks, and
Delhi already had over 12000, needed
water, manure and labour, while a forest only had to be left alone. The forest
was not only ecologically superior to
a park, but also symbolized a balance
between nature and development.

owever, the associated legal and

land ownership issues surrounding
the ridge areas were complex and
institutionally intertwined. For example, while the DDA and the forest
department owned Sanjay Van and
the northern ridge, the central ridge
was under the Central Public Works
Department (CPWD), the Delhi
Administration, and the Land and
Development Office (L&DO) while
the forest department owned the
Asola Sanctuary land. No agency
wanted to relinquish control, and
it was clear that only a higher level
action could resolve the issue.
Given the public outcry and the
complexity of the issues involved the
Delhi government appointed a 10
member committee headed by Lovraj
Kumar (then member Planning Commission) in April 1993 to frame a management plan
for the Delhi Ridge.
6. For details of the campaign see Saving
the Delhi Ridge: One Year of Conservation
Action. Srishti, New Delhi, 1994.

Four members from environmental

NGOs (Indian National Trust for Arts
and Cultural Heritage – INTACH,
Kalpavriksh, Srishti, World Wide
Fund for Nature – WWF) were part of
the committee along with officials.
The committee recommended that
four of the areas be notified as reserve
forests, and that the forest character of
the area be maintained irrespective of
which agency manages the land. 7
This was an important victory, and on
24 May 1994 these areas were duly
notified as deemed Reserve Forest
under Section 4 of the Indian Forest
Act, 1927 (IFA).8

S
ubsequent to the notification, the
mandatory settlement of forest rights
began, but was immediately mired in
controversy as it was obviously discriminatory. For example, amongst
the first to be displaced were the rag
pickers and shanty dwellers on central
ridge adjacent to a large police camp,
a gurdwara and a well-known charitable hospital, even as the President’s
Bodyguard’s owned a swanky polo
club ground on the ridge forest behind
Rashtrapati Bhavan itself. Rather than
face public ire, the club was closed
down and relocated elsewhere on the
ridge, only to lead to another legal battle subsequently, and its reopening at
the same place recently.
Another similar controversy
which illustrated the bias in land use
was at Bhatti mines, which is part of
the notified forest on the southern
boundary of the city. Owing to an affidavit filed in the Supreme Court by the
Chief Secretary of Delhi, over 30,000
residents living in three colonies
7. Government of NCTD, Report of the Committee to Recommend the Pattern of
Management of the Delhi Ridge, New Delhi, 2004.
8. Delhi Gazette, Notification No F.10(42)-I/
PA/DCF/93/2012-17(1), Development
Department, Govt. of NCT of Delhi, 24 May
1994.
adjacent to the Asola Wildlife Sanctuary, were labelled as ‘encroachers’.
Under direction from the Supreme
Court (1996), 9 they were asked to
relocate, even though many adjoining private farmhouses were left
untouched.
Many of them belonged to the
Oad nomadic tribes, who are traditional diggers specializing in the construction of
ponds and canals and had
been workers in the now closed Bhatti
bajri mines (1975-1992). Through
political patronage two of the colonies
have managed to stay on to date,
though their fate hangs in balance.
Meanwhile the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has proposed to
use the mines as garbage landfills,
which would result in converting the
forest into a dump yard of the city,
even as the poor are to be removed.
The matter is currently in the Supreme
Court, following a counter petition
challenging this plea.10

nfortunately, several ridge areas

which could have been included in
1994 were left out, and have been subsequently built upon. Delhi is plagued
by a multiplicity of civic authorities,
who work in isolation of each other.
Hence, ‘other use’ claims for the forest land emanate from several unconnected
quarters. Land developing
agencies, transport bodies, civic service providers, and even security agencies all
lay claim, such that making a
case for keeping a ‘forest’ has become
increasingly difficult.11
Several significant and often
unsuccessful court battles have since
ensued, and demonstrate the difficulty
in protecting the ridge land. Most of
them relate to demands by state actors.
9. M.C. Mehta vs UOI, WP(C) 4677/1985,
orders of 9 April 1996 and 9 May 1996,
Supreme Court of India, Delhi.
10. IA in Almitra Patel vs UOI and Ors, WP(C)
888/1996, Supreme Court of India, Delhi.

An early one dealt with the shifting of

the President’s polo ground from the
central ridge to another location westwards known as Nicholson’s Range,
without tree felling or land diversion
clearance. Srishti and other groups
approached the Delhi High Court to
stop this, and the case became headline news, since it served notice to the
Chief of Army Staff. However, with
no help forthcoming from the forest
department for providing boundary
maps of the notified ridge, the court
let the army off with a warning.12
A

fter the 1994 notification, the

DDA started treating all remaining
areas as fair game for ‘development’,
even as many of them, such as the
Vasant Kunj ridge, were forested and
earlier notifications still granted them
a status of reserve or protected forests.
Amongst the most important fights
concerned over 650 hectares of the
Vasant Kunj ridge, half of which was
controlled by the army. In 1997, the
DDA proposed the building of 13 five
star hotels (international hotel’s complex) on the area, despite a lush jungle and
many small and large water
bodies which existed there. On the
other hand, the hotels had a high
water requirement of up to 1000 litres
per room per day.
An NGO, the Citizens for Lake
and Quarry Wilderness (CLQW),
along with others including Srishti
and Kalpavriksh, approached the
Supreme Court to stop this. 13 The
court rejected the project, but left the
11. A curious proposal was made for the rehabilitation of captured ‘dancing bears’
on the
Asola Wildlife Sanctuary (1998). The Delhi
Government after giving the go-ahead to
the project without going into the technical or
financial aspects, had to withdraw it after
experts declared the area inhospitable for the
animal due to lack of water and green cover.
12. Srishti and Ors vs Govt. of NCT of Delhi,
Chief of Army Staff and Ors,WP(C), 1996,
High Court of Delhi, Delhi.

army area untouched and exempted

92 ha of the remaining for construction of a hotel. Subsequently in 2006,
the area again saw new constructions
of institutions and shopping malls,
despite no environmental clearances
having been granted, and another long
drawn futile court battle. The area now
houses some of the most expensive
shopping malls in the city, catering to
a select few, even as the function of
the ridge for the benefit of million of
Delhi’s citizens is forever lost. Currently, in another case in the Delhi
High Court, citizens are attempting to
protect what is left as a major groundwater recharge zone,14 with an estimated
recharge potential of 60 million
cubic meters annually.15

ne of the bodies formed to protect

and restore the ridge forest is the
Ridge Management Board (RMB –
hitherto referred to as the Board), constituted in October 1995, and which
reports to the Supreme Court.16 Heavily loaded with government functionaries, the
board is chaired by the Chief
Secretary of Delhi, and members such
as the Vice Chairman DDA, along
with three civil society members. It is
probably a singular example of a high
powered body which exists to protect
a specific urban forest and along with
the Central Empowered Committee
(CEC), appointed by the Supreme
13. Writ Petition (civil) 202 of 1995:
T.N. Godavarman Thirumulpad vs Union of
India, and Unison Hotels Ltd. vs DDA and Ors,
SLP (Civil) No 8960/97, both Supreme Court
of India, Delhi.
14. Ramesh Chopra and Ors vs UOI and Ors,
WP © 11884-87/2006 in High Court of Delhi,
Delhi.
15. Vikram Soni, ‘Three Waters: An Evaluation of Urban Groundwater Resource in
Delhi’, Current Science 93(6), 25 September
2007.
16. Constitution of Ridge Management Board,
Office of the Development Commissioner,
Govt. of NCT of Delhi, No F.56 (225)/95/Dev./
No/5596-5612.
SEMINAR 613 – September 2010

51
Court, the board has become the nodal
body for allowing any diversion of
land for non-forest use on the ridge.
In most instances, requests for
land diversion made to the board are
by a government body, and the board
often plays a conflicting role of adjudicating against institutions of the
state. In each case ‘public purpose’ has
been cited. Requests where ‘security
installations’, ‘public transport’, or
‘nationally important events’ like the
Commonwealth Games are concerned
have been granted, while others have
been disallowed.
It is noteworthy that in almost all
cases requests made by private parties
have been denied. In recent years
some of the clearance demands have
included those from the army for
security installations, the municipality for landfills, the Delhi Metro Rail
Corporation for metro links, the Delhi
Jal Board for building water tanks, the
Delhi Development Authority, the
erstwhile Delhi Electricity Supply
Undertaking for laying transmission
lines, the Commonwealth Games
Authority for stadiums and parking
lots, the Delhi Police for building
police stations, and so on.

52

any government agencies have

violated the ridge forest, but received
no punishment for doing so. One
example is of the Central Public
Works Department (CPWD) building
a parking lot and public toilets in the
Mahavir Jayanti park under instructions from the Minister for Urban
Development and without any mandatory clearance from the board (2002).
Though the CPWD was forced to
reverse this action, no punitive action
was taken. Similarly, the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) made a
road in the central ridge without permission, even though it is represented
on the board. It required a court action
to stop this (2004).
SEMINAR 613 – September 2010

On another occasion, 5000 metric tonnes of rubble was dumped on

the ridge by the DDA, and though later
removed, no action was ever initiated
against the offender (2004). Most
recently, the Central Public Works
Department has dumped rubble
from a road bridge project into a water body on the southern ridge, and
citizens have gone to court to have this
removed (2009). Clearly there are
limits to which any such protection
can succeed, especially if the state
agencies are themselves often an
offending party.

any other pending issues remain

unresolved as well. The boundary of
the notified ridge has not been verified
on the ground, and much of the forest
cover has been taken over by invasive
exotic species. Not only do many
structures remain within the ridge
area whose future is uncertain, there
remains a continuing tendency to convert the forest into a horticultural park.
Most people in Delhi have not
seen the ridge forest. It is distressing
that the citizens have scant respect for
the forest and garbage can be seen
dumped in many places. Efforts to
protect any area outside the notified
ridge have so far proved futile, since
even the courts have not been willing
to extend any additional legal cover
to the land. Today, it appears inconceivable that such a large area can be
protected as a forest outside a ‘development zone’ in a city where land
demand is astronomically high. Ironically, the metro rail, which traverses
over the fabulous forested canopy,
provides a first spectacular bird’s
eye view of the forest to most people.
One hopes that this may provide a
new impetus for citizens to save a
unique natural urban forest, which is
critical to the ecology of the city, and
whose future can hardly be taken for
granted.