A BRIEF ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF

FORESTS AND WILDLIFE, GNCTD

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• Expansion of Green Cover in Delhi:
– There has been an increase in green cover in Delhi from
5.93% of geographic area in 1999 to 20.08% of geographic
area (297.81 km2 Green Cover (179.81 km2 Forest cover +
118 km2 Tree Cover)) in 2013, as per the India State of Forest
Report 2013.
– Annual Tree Plantations are taken up along with other
greening agencies (planted 8,83,654 saplings in 2014-15, up
to November 2014)
– People’s participation in tree plantation drive through
involvement of eco clubs (2000 approx.) and RWAs (3000
approx.) in Van Mahotsav during monsoon and free
distribution of tree saplings (5,40,470 saplings distributed,
up to November 2014)to ensure plantation on available
vacant lands.
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• Eco-sensitization:
– Conservation Education Centre (CEC):
 Established jointly by BNHS and Govt. of NCT of Delhi at Asola-Bhatti
Wildlife Sanctuary for creating awareness about the conservation of
biodiversity among children and adults through field based
educational programmes.
 Till now about 47,000 individuals have participated in various
activities of the Centre.
 Rehabilitation of Asola-Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary through 132 Eco-Task
Force (ETF).
 Combating wildlife crimes:
 Surprise raids at suspicious places to check trade of wild animals and
products made thereof.
 Cases of illegal hunting and trade are prosecuted in Court of ACMM
by the Wildlife Inspectors.
 Wild animal articles involved in these count cases are taken to
Research Institutions for scientific analysis.
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• Protection of Forest areas:
– Ridge Management Board (RMB):
The functions of the Board shall be as follows:

(i) Execution of the management scheme for the Ridge forests as the green
lungs of Delhi;
(ii) Protection of the boundary and boundary fences of the Ridge;
(iii) Preparation and execution of detailed plans for upgradation of the Ridge in
accordance with sound silvicultural practices applicable to city forests and
natural resources;
(iv) Control of the usage by the public of such areas of the Ridge forests as may
be declared as “open” by the ‘Board’.
(v) Ensuring that there are no encroachments in excess of the areas allotted to
the lawful allottees, till they are shifted from the Ridge forest under
appropriate orders.
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• Protection of Forest areas:
– Tree Authority:
 10 tree saplings are to be planted for every tree felled under DPTA,
1994
 A compensatory plantation security deposit of Rs. 28,000 along with
administrative charge (10%) and other charges (5%) are levied for
each tree permitted for felling
 Out of the 10 trees, 5 trees are planted by the Department of
Forests and Wildlife using half of the Security deposit for
densification of forest land/ available Gaon Sabha land.
 The other half is to be raised and maintained by the user agency till
the saplings are established as trees (5 years) and Rs. 14,000/- is
released after verification of the plantation.
– Other redressal measures like deconcretization, awareness creation
drive for tree plantation, discouraging tree felling and third party
monitoring of plantations raised by greening agencies.
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• Protection of Forest areas:
– Tree Officer:
 Decides the applications for Tree felling under the
DPTA, 1994
 Conservator of Forests and Deputy Conservator of
Forests (South/ West & North) are notified as Tree
Officers
 Delegation- DCF (up to 10 trees), Conservator of Forest
(10- 20 trees), Secretary (Forest) (more than 20 trees
within 1 ha.)
 Cases of 1 ha. and above with the approval of the State
Govt. for exemption of the Act

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 Details of Forest and Tree cover in Delhi
Forest and Tree Cover map of Types of Forest cover in Delhi
Delhi

Category Total Area (Sq

Km.)
1. Very Dense 6.76
Forest
2. Moderately 49.38
Dense Forest

3. Open Forest 123.67

Total 176.81

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 An Overview of Forests in Delhi
• Reserved Ridge Forest
(5)- 7784 ha.
• Protected Forest (26)-
1658 ha.
• Protected Area under
Wildlife (Protection)
Act, 1972 (1)-
• City Forest (42)-
1443.66 ha.

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 Reserved Forests in Delhi
S.No. Name Area (ha) Managing Agencies Area with the
Department of
Forests and Wildlife
1. Northern Ridge 87 DDA, MCD & 3 ha.
Forest Deptt.
2. Central Ridge 864 DDA, MCD, Forest 423 ha.
Deptt., Army,
CPWD,NDMC
3. Southern Ridge 6200 Forest Deptt., DDA, 6145 ha.
Sports Authority of
India
4. South- Central 626 DDA 0 ha.
Ridge
5. Nanakpura South- 7 DDA 0 ha.
Central Ridge

Total 7784 ha.

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 A. Northern Ridge Boundary

Legend
!( Landmark Points
Data Source:
DSSDI Project Ridge Boundary

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Disclaimer: Confidential for Forest & Wildlife Departmental use only
 B. Central Ridge Boundary

Legend
!( Landmark Points
Data Source:
DSSDI Project Ridge Boundary

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Disclaimer: Confidential for Forest & Wildlife Departmental use only
 C. South Central Ridge Boundary

Legend
!( Landmark Points
Ridge Boundary
Data Source:
Doubtful Ridge Boundary
DSSDI Project

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Disclaimer: Confidential for Forest & Wildlife Departmental use only
 D. Southern Ridge Boundary

Legend
!( Landmark Points
Ridge Boundary
Data Source:
Doubtful Ridge Boundary
DSSDI Project

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Disclaimer: Confidential for Forest & Wildlife Departmental use only
 Major Features of Ridge Forest Area
 Notified under section 4 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927
 Settlements of Rights and Concessions are under process by the Additional
District Magistrates as Forest Settlement Officers(FSO)
 31 no. of claims have been received and out of those 7 cases have been
settled by ADM/FSO. The claims are from 2006 to 2013 for considerations.
Claims pertain to Nebsarai, Bhatti, Maidangarhi, Deramandi , Chhatarpur,
Mehrauli, Saidulajab. Aayanagr and Ghitorni
 Forest consolidation for 15 villages in the Southern Ridge has been
completed and work is in progress in remaining 5 villages.
 Geo referenced Ridge Forest Maps have been uploaded on the website for
public information.
 Any non-forest use of ridge forest land is to be approved by Ridge
Management Board(RMB) under the chairmanship of the Chief Secretary,
GNCTD and Central Empowered Committee(CEC) duly constituted by Hon’ble
Supreme Court of India.
National Green Tribunal is monitoring progress in settlement of issues related
to ridge forests and poor staff strength of the deptt. under OA no.58 of 2013.
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 Applicability of Acts and Rules

• Implementation of Indian Forest Act 1927,

Wildlife Protection Act 1972, Forest
(Conservation) Act, 1980, Delhi Preservation
of Trees Act, 1994, and the DPTA Rules 1996,
Wildlife Protection Act Rules 1973, under the
relevant Acts and other relevant legislations
• Implementation of National Forest Policy,
1988 to achieve the objectives of the policy in
respect of NCT of Delhi

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 Public Interface
• Monkey Menace:
 As per the Hon’ble Delhi High Court order dated 14.03.2007 in
WP (C) 2600/2001 in the matter of New Friends Colony Residents
Welfare Association v/s Union of India & Ors., the civic agencies of
Delhi are required to trap the problematic monkeys from the
inhabited areas from their respective jurisdiction and translocate
them to Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary (ABWLS), Delhi.
 Food supplement to monkeys and cages to Civic agencies to catch
monkeys are responsibility allocated to this department.
 monkey feed is provided for around 2500 kg per day and soaked
black gram on 20 platforms in ABWLS, everyday.
 So far 18032 monkeys have been translocated to the Asola Bhatti
Wildlife Sanctuary till 31.10.2014.
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 Public Interface
• Tree Helpline:
 The Department operates Green Helpline nos. 1800118600 (Toll
Free), 23378600; to handle complaints regarding tree cutting,
pruning and procedures.
 This dedicated service is available on all days except Saturday &
Sunday from 9.30 hrs to 18.00 hrs.
 The complaints are verified by Tree Officers and action taken are
intimated to the complainants.

• Human-animal conflict:
 The department with the help of Wildlife SOS/ Civic bodies
manages such conflicts arising through animal intrusion like
Neelgais, Monkeys, etc in habitation areas.
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 Compensatory Plantations under DPTA, 1994
• 10 tree saplings are to be
Reporting Tree Tree Tree Officer
planted for every tree felled
under DPTA, 1994 Period: Officer Officer (West)
• A compensatory plantation 2013-14 (North) (South)
security deposit of Rs. 28,000
along with administrative No. of Trees 6,450 13,315 14,268
charge (10%) and other charges permitted
(5%) are levied for each tree
permitted for felling Compensatory 50,000 1,00,000 1,25,000
• Out of the 10 trees, 5 trees Plantation Target
are planted by the Department
of Forests and Wildlife using
half of the Security deposit for Compensatory
densification of forest land/
20,928 73,000 28,763
Plantation
available in Gaon Sabha land.
Completed
• The rest plantation is to be
raised and maintained by the
user agency till the saplings are
established as trees (5 years) NB: Compensatory Plantations are
and half of the security deposit subject to social auditing and departmentally
is released after verification of monitored from time to time.
the plantation. Departmental compensatory plantation under
Phase I and II of DMRC stand jointly verified.
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 Protection of Forest Land
Encroachment Prevention Measures:
• Protection of Forest land through construction of masonry
walls
• Booking of Offences for infringement of Forest boundaries
and ‘malba’ dumping
• Eviction of encroachments through Task Force headed by
Assistant Conservator of Forests
• Deployment of Security Guards

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 Project on Eco-restoration Year Plantation (No. of Saplings)
at Asola Bhatti Wildlife 2001-02 58,800
Sanctuary 2002-03 92,400
• Eco Restoration Project at Bhatti Mines 2003-04 1,51,000
for Ecological restoration of erstwhile
Bhatti Mines in the South Delhi through 2004-05 1,26,000
132 Eco Task Force.
•The Battalion is commanded by Colonel
2005-06 1,30,267
of Indian Army and assisted by 2 2006-07 1,40,000
Adjutants, 7 Junior Commissioned
Officers and 201 Jawans. 2007-08 2,00,000
• The project was started in 2001 and 2008-09 1,67,000
was extended up to 2019 with the
approval of the Delhi Cabinet. 2009-10 1,50,000
• The Battalion has been successful in 2010-11 1,50,000
protection of land from encroachments
and restoration through plantation 2011-12 1,84,017
activities.
• The Battalion also implements 2012-13 1,56,034
Compensatory Afforestation (CAMPA) 2013-14 1,52,029
under the Forest (Conservation )Act,
1980. 2014-15 1,00,000
• Strengthening of the Battalion is under Total 19,56,547
examination
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Ridge Protection Management System
• The Department of Forest & Wildlife, GNCTD, is under process for
making online monitoring system for protection and management of
Ridge Reserved Forests.
• Based on GIS application to keep vigil & online monitoring of Ridge
Reserved Forests.
• This application combines PDA (Personal digitized application) and
GPS.
Procedure:
• Use of PDA (Personal digitized application) and GPS for data
capturing.
• Data transferring through GPRS to GIS cell.
• GIS based satellite data on encroachment using Quick bird satellite
imagery.
• SMS Alert system for forest offences.
• Construction of ‘Munara’/boundary pillar along forest boundaries.

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 Its a small patch of green
For us, its the core of our philosophy

Thank You
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