Efforts to safeguard Dwarka forest persist despite SC stay order

Despite the apex court’s order to stay the ongoing construction in the Dwarka forest area, the JCBs continue to work inside the forest land.

In June, I visited the Dwarka forest with Naveen Solanki, a 23-year-old environmental activist dedicated to its protection. We reported the ongoing tree felling and rapid construction in the area. As earlier I talked to the like-minded youngsters involved in the drive to protect the forest under #SaveDwarkaForest, they were planning to file a petition to safeguards the remaining trees. Their efforts finally look to have an impact and reconsideration of the matter.

This month, the Supreme Court has temporarily suspended tree cutting in Sector 21 of Delhi’s Dwarka, related to the redevelopment of the Bijwasan rail terminal. In a ruling to halt all construction related to the project, a bench led by Justice AS Oka stated,

"We restrain the respondents from felling and/or damaging in any manner the trees or otherwise causing damage to the trees on the subject land."

The status of a ‘deemed forest’

Dwarka Forest lies behind one of the busiest airport terminals in the world– Terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI), Delhi. A deemed forest is not a reserve or a notified forest and different states have different definitions. In Delhi, any area over 2.5 acres with over 100 trees per acre is called a deemed forest. Similarly, 1 km stretches of roads and drains with the same density are also deemed forests. The concept came into existence following a Supreme Court order in the TN Godavarman case in 1996.

The 120-acre land was acquired by the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) in the 1960s and again by the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA) in around 2008. Naturally, the trees/plants started growing across a 2 km stretch. However, in 2021, RLDA started its Bijwasan Railways Redevelopment Project. The project includes a new terminal building of 30,400 square metres (sq m), an air concourse across 12,500 sq m and a circulating road network of 123,500 sq m. The new Bijwasan railway station will have eight platforms, against the current number of two.

For the project’s implementation, the RLDA’s contractors buried trees in the soil, instead of cutting or transplanting them. They didn't have any valid permission to do so, till 2024. The Forest Department (FD) fined them around Rs. 5.93 crores in 2022, as it found 990 fallen trees at the project site. The RLDA paid up the fine but started cutting and concealing trees underneath, again. According to the locals, FD ignored all tree violation complaints till 2023. 

In February 2024, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) declared the 120-acre patch a non-forest land. In the petition filed by RM Asif, a Delhi citizen, he requested the NGT to halt the project and stated that over 1,000 trees had been cut in the forest tract, a violation of the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994.

In a submission made in the first week of February, the forest department informed the NGT that the area was not a protected forest, but may be considered a deemed forest. However, the RLDA mentioned that the area can’t be considered a deemed forest for the following reasons. 

“Counsel for respondent no. 1 (RLDA) has pointed out that DDA had handed over the possession of about 110.07 hectares of land to the Railways for Integrated Metropolitan Passengers Terminal (IMPT). He has also pointed out the plea of the applicant....that there are 1,100 trees on the subject land. Hence, he submits that on calculating the number of alleged trees standing on per acre of land...this land does not fall under the category of deemed forest,” said the NGT bench headed by Justice Prakash Shrivastava in its order on February 13, stating the recently amended Forest Conservation Act 2023 also did not cover deemed forests anymore.

“Six days after the NGT ruling on the forest, the Supreme Court of India gave back the protection status to deemed forests in the country. Before the NGT ruling, Dwarka forest, too, fell under the ‘Deemed Forest’ category,” informed a protester to Ground Report.

The youth involved to work towards protecting this particular forest has previously also held protests earlier and worked to create an awareness on the issue.

Hide it. as they believe…

As I was walking across the forest which already had lost many trees, buried under the soil I observed the remaining trees were flagged and fenced to hide the on-going construction work and further felling of trees from the public eye.

However, the efforts of the youth living in the area has brought the issue to the national notice. Solanki informed me,

“There is a clear disregard for the court's verdict, as work in the area continues to harm the trees. I have communicated directly with the project supervisor regarding the Supreme Court's stay order, yet this has not deterred them from proceeding with the work.”

He also addressed that the wired fences makes it difficult to patrol the area completely. Solanki has lived in this area his entire life and reminisces about his childhood, when he would ride his bicycle through the forest and frequently encounter deer and migratory birds. However, he has noticed a significant decline in bird populations, and spotting deer has become increasingly rare.

Looking at the hope he and his fellows find with the apex court order, Solanki hops that though the authorities try to hide the reality, it will come out with awareness. The next hearing in this case is due on 13 November, but Solanki informed me that he would approach court again in next two-three days with the evidences of on-going work in the area to halt it with an immediate effect.

“Hide it, as they believe it would hide the wrongs as well, but this decision at least adds a motivation for us to keep fighting,” he added.