Times
of India: New Delhi: Monday, 10 November 2014.
An affidavit
filed by National Capital Region Planning Board in National Green Tribunal
recently called attention to the alarming shrinkage in NCR's natural
conservation zones (NCZ). Now, an RTI enquiry has found which land use
categories and portions have been lost in each state since 2005.
In Delhi,
area of waterbodies has shrunk since 2005 by as much as 22.64% while area of
forests and wastelands has come down by 15.67% and 11.4% in the same time. The
total NCZ area lost in Delhi is 15.43%.
The query by
Rohit Choudhary of EIA Resource and Response Centre has also found that NCZ
area in Faridabad has shrunk by a whopping 26%. It has declined by only 1% in
Gurgaon. In Faridabad, the largest NCZ area lost seems to be forests. Area of
waterbodies decreased 27.51% from 2,737.98ha in 2005 to 753.19ha in 2012, but
that of forests fell from 3,747.23ha to 2,446.95ha-a decline of 65.27%. NCZs
comprise environmentally-sensitive areas like Aravalis, rivers Yamuna, Hindon
and Kali, lakes Badkhal, Damdama and Surajkund and salt ravines. No large
construction, real estate or industry is allowed in these areas.
In Delhi,
forest areas have been lost even from Asola Bhatti Sanctuary-a protected
area-and from Yamuna banks.
The RTI query
cites several letters from NCRPB to the lieutenant governor and the chief
secretary asking for an explanation for this loss. A letter from Naini
Jayaseelan, member secretary of NCRPB, to LG Najeeb Jung even requested him to
deploy someone to look into the matter after she did not receive a reply from
the chief secretary's office. "The reason why so much of NCZ has been
illegally diverted or lost in Faridabad may be because the Aravali notification
does not cover the district unlike the case in Gurgaon," said
environmental analyst Chetan Agarwal said.
The Aravali
notification could have stopped the ruthless diversion of forests and water
bodies in Faridabad. We hope the alarming loss of conservation zone prompts the
government to provide legal protection to NCZ. Otherwise, whatever is left will
disappear," environmental analyst Chetan Agarwal said.
In UP, the
maximum depletion was in Gautam Budh Nagar-55%-followed by Bulandshahr and
Ghaziabad-Hapur. In its affidavit, NCRPB said it sent letters to Haryana,
Delhi, UP and Rajasthan asking them to come clean on the diversion of NCZs. In
Rajasthan, the highest NCZ area lost is 59% in the water body category.
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