HC seeks experts’ help to develop forest

Wants suggestions to develop forest land near S. Delhi fort

The Delhi high court has sought assistance of two experts associated with the Yamuna Bio-Diversity Park to develop a 200-acre forest land near the 14th century Tughlaqabad Fort in South Delhi.

“On the next date of hearing, we request Professor C.R. Babu (noted ecologist) and Dr Faiyaz A. Khudsar (scientist) who are connected with Yamuna Bio-Diversity Park, which is a project of the DDA, to be present in the court to assist us in this matter with their suggestions. Renotify on December 9,” a bench of Justices B.D. Ahmed and Sanjeev Sachdeva said.

The court also directed the director (horticulture) of the Delhi Development Authority and chief engineer of the Delhi Jal Board to be present during the hearing on December 9.

The bench had earlier said that there are three water bodies adjacent to the fort wall and one water body a short distance away and the water in all these is toxic.

It had also lauded the efforts of the DDA for the work done on maintenance of wetlands in the Yamuna Bio-Diversity Park and said the forest area could be developed on the same lines as the park in consonance with the Delhi Master Plan.

It had suggested that biotechnology be used to clean the water by setting up a bio-diversity park there, if land was not available for setting up a sewage treatment plant or sewage pumping station.

As per the Delhi Jal Board, it needs 2.5 acres of land to set up an sewage treatment plant and 0.5 acres for an sewage pumping station and it has written to the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) for the allotment of an appropriate site.

The court was hearing a PIL filed by Manoj Kumar, who claimed that there was a forest area near Tughlaqabad Fort on DDA land and local residents were running illegal factories using chemicals and their polluted, hazardous water was flowing into the forest which has created an “artificial lake.”

Animals, including monkeys, peacocks, deer and birds, were drinking the polluted water and dying in large numbers, the petition claimed.