Centre may allow compensatory afforestation in neighbouring states for land diverted in Delhi

New Delhi: The Union environment ministry may allow compensatory afforestation (CA) for all developmental projects undertaken in Delhi in neighbouring states in view of the scarcity of land in the capital, sources have said.

A source in the Environment Ministry said they have taken cognisance of the Delhi Development Authority's (DDA) letter which said all green areas in the city have saturated and there is a severe shortage of land to raise compensatory afforestation for the upcoming developmental projects.

"This is a policy issue. We have taken note of it. There is indeed a shortage of land in Delhi. We are going to take up the matter in a meeting of the Forest Appraisal Committee of the ministry. The request is likely to be accepted," the source said.

Citing a recent order of the National Green Tribunal (NGT), noted environmentalist Prof C R Babu said the forest clearance is subject to the requirement of afforestation within 10 km from the place where the trees were felled.

"Compensatory afforestation for forest land diverted in Delhi should be done in the city itself. The authorities should utilise the small open spaces in institutional areas, schools and colleges for this purpose," he said.

Faiyaz Khudsar, the scientist-in-charge at the Yamuna Biodiversity Park in north Delhi, said if at all CA needs to be done outside Delhi, efforts should be made to restore the degraded land on the periphery of the capital using an ecological approach which would also alleviate the impact of dust storms.

A senior DDA official said it has denied several requests by user agencies, including the National Highway Authority of India and Railways, to provide land for compensatory afforestation considering the shortage.

In March, the DDA wrote to the Union Environment Ministry, requesting it to allow compensatory afforestation for all projects undertaken in Delhi in neighbouring states in view of the scarcity of land in the capital.

In its letter, the DDA cited para 2.3 (v) of the chapter 2 of the Handbook of Forest Conservation Act which says: "In exceptional cases where non-forest land/degraded forest land, as the case may be, for CA is not available in the same state/Union territory in which the diversion of forest land is proposed, land for CA can be identified in any other state/UT, preferably in a neighbouring state/UT."

"It is proposed that para 2.3(v) of the guidelines issued by the ministry may in general be relaxed for Delhi and CA may be allowed in neighbouring states," the DDA's letter read.