Reclaiming southern Ridge: NGT issues notice to authorities

New Delhi: The National Green Tribunal has sought a response from Delhi’s principal chief conservator of forests (PCCF) and others in a matter regarding the challenges in reclaiming the national capital’s southern Ridge, a crucial green area for the city.

The green panel had earlier taken suo motu cognisance of a newspaper report, according to which, despite being declared a reserved forest, large portions of the Ridge had been encroached, and the efforts to clear them were slow and complicated. In a recent order, a bench of NGT Chairperson Justice Prakash Shrivastava said, “The news item asserts that as per a 2019 survey, 357.07 hectares of encroached land

was identified, but only about 22 per cent has been cleared so far. The largest encroachments are in the villages of Asola and Bhatti, which are part of the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary.”