Click to play videoNew Delhi: The National Bird of India has no room in the Capital of the country. That’s because 123 acres of green stretch in south Delhi's Netaji Nagar is being deforested for building housing facilities for bureaucrats.
"This stretch is the greenest one after Ridge that serves the city. If deforested, it’s a huge loss to the environment. We lose so many trees. Who is responsible and how can the loss be compensated?" asks a Delhi college student Anukampa.
The land has been taken over by the National Building Construction Corporation to build housing complex for bureaucrats.
However, the NBCC says they have all the clearances and there is nothing that prevents them from developing the land.
"Out of 2,200 trees, we are cutting down 180 trees and we have the clearances from the Ministry of Environment,” says Chief Managing Director of NBCC, Arup Roy Chowdhary:
In the absence of any legal protection, NBCC can cut down these trees. But it’s not just about the trees.
This forest is home to various flora and fauna, especially peacocks which are now endangered.
"Peacocks are ground birds, but they also need trees to roost and lay eggs,” says Kartik Satyanarayan of Wildlife SOS, an NGO.
Experts say that the Forest Preservation Act and the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act are mere speed-breakers and can be gotten around.
But there is a way out.
"The Wildlife Preservation Act which classifies hunting as a punishable act and that defines hunting as even moving or disturbing the natural habitat of a particular animal can be invoked,” says advocate Ritvick Datta.
The Forest Department has now stepped in and has asked the authorities to figure out the number of tress that would be cut.
But it seems too little, too late in a losing battle to save the woods from becoming a concrete jungle.
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