New Delhi: Of the total 6,200 hectares of the Southern Ridge, around 400.5 hectares are currently with the LG for approval of its final notification under Section 20 of the Indian Forest Act, which will provide it the status of a reserve forest.
Once notified, the area under final legal protection in the Southern Ridge will rise to 4,576.7 hectares, or around 74% of its total area.
TOI had earlier reported that the Ridge areas were notified under Section 4 of the Indian Forest Act in 1994, providing them initial protection. However, for complete legal protection, a Section 4 notification needs to be followed by a notification under Section 20, which has been pending for over three decades. In a report dated Aug 29 which has been submitted to the National Green Tribunal , the forest department said the process for issuance of final notification under Section 20 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, is being undertaken in a phased manner, taking into consideration the status of the respective parcels of land. “With respect to the Southern Ridge phase-II(A), the draft notification covers an area of 400.5 hectares pertaining to 15 villages. The report added that the remaining land parcels, which are under Southern Ridge Phase-II (Part B), and span 1,622.6 hectares have encroachments. The forest department said out of a total of 7,784 hectares of all ridges, an area of 7,772.3 hectares was demarcated, and of this expanse, 4,850.3 hectares has been notified under section 20 of the Indian Forest Act till now. It includes 4,176 hectares in Southern Ridge and 673.2 hectares of the Central Ridge. “Proposals for notification of 448.2 ha in South Central Ridge, Northern Ridge and Nanakpura Ridge are being processed. The proposal for declaring 112.3 hectares of Northern Ridge and 5.9 hectares of Nanakpura Ridge as reserved forest has been received from DDA and is being processed for finalisation of the notification,” according to the minutes of the meeting of Delhi Ridge Management Board, which was also submitted to the tribunal.
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The forest department, however, said the remaining area is affected by encroachments, villages, unauthorised colonies, JJ clusters, religious structures and other such occupation. The said draft notification has been duly vetted by the law and revenue departments and is under submission for obtaining the approval of LG of Delhi. Upon receipt of the requisite approval, the notification shall be processed for issuance in accordance with law,” said the report. “The said areas are being subjected to joint ground re-verification in coordination with the revenue department,” said the report.
The forest and revenue departments are jointly carrying out a reverification of the area. NGT is hearing a plea by activist Sonya Ghosh, who has sought removal of encroachments and notification of the Ridge area. Download the TOI App.