Facing land ‘shortage’, DDA declining compensatory afforestation requests

Union Environment Ministry yet to respond to letter seeking relaxation, says official

DDA has sought permission to carry out compensatory afforestation in neighbouring States owing to land shortage in Delhi. | Photo Credit: File photo

 

“Shortage” of land for carrying out compensatory afforestation (CA) has forced the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) to deny requests from service agencies which are executing development projects in the Capital, said a senior official.

“We recently received a request from the Indian Railways to provide close to 25 hectares for one of its projects. However, we told them we were unable to attend to the requirement due to a shortage of land for CA. Previously, we had to convey the same for a project of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI),” said the official, adding that the urban body had provided 119.76 hectares in 2021.

He said the urban body had flagged the issue in a letter to the Union Environment Ministry in March this year and sought a relaxation in the guidelines to carry out CA, but the latter was yet to respond. 

Trees for trees

Compensatory Afforestation, according to the Handbook of Forest Conservation Act, 1980, has to be carried out for diversion of forest land or deemed forest land for non-forest purposes, while the purpose of CA is to compensate for the loss of “land by land” and loss of “trees by trees”. 

“We have no land for CA and this is alarming since it will affect development works in the city. Delhi has limited space. How can we compare the status of land in the city to States such as Madhya Pradesh or Uttar Pradesh. In our letter to the Ministry, we had conveyed solutions such as relaxation in order to carry out CA in neighbouring States or they should give us some solution,” said the senior DDA official. 

‘Exclusive relaxation’

A senior official at the Union Environment Ministry said that the DDA was seeking “exclusive relaxation” in carrying out CA. The official said the DDA has “no shortage of land” for CA, adding that the urban body’s “so-called shortage is a white lie”.

“They [DDA] simply do not want to part with the land that they have for CA. There is an Act in place for CA that applies to the entire country and they must follow it. The DDA has been beating around the bush regarding their shortage while they have not categorically stated that they have no land for CA. In fact, the DDA has more than 5,000 hectares of Yamuna floodplains which remains encroached upon,” said the Ministry official.