These northsouth and south-east ranges form a triangular plain with the river Yamuna in the

east. The Najafgarhjheel, along Delhi-Haryana border is the largest natural depression. The
catchment area of the jheel spreads over 906.5 sq. kms.

Physiography Physiograplucally the Union Territory is marked by 5 major terrain

components, namely rocky relief, bad land, gently undulating surface, flood plain of
Najafgarh link drainage system and flood plain of Yamuna river.

APPENDIX-A Block-wise villages, area and population, 1971

Development Inhabited Deserted Total Total area Population Blocks villages villages
(Hectares) (Census 1971)
1. Alipur 58 3 61 23756 9J743
2. Nangloi 53 — 53 25315 112873
3. Najafgarh 69 6 75 30186 II3 M7
4. Mehrauli 30 — 30 >6213 66944
5. Shahdara 33 6 39 7355 33968
Total 343 15 258 1,02,825 4,18,675

The dialect Dabari is spoken in Najafgarh Block area and is akin to the dialect of Gurgacn
district.

Dabar Soil (low lying area) The dabar tracts are generally flooded during the monsoons.
Inadequate drainage leaves large areas under water, leading to the formation of saline-alkali
soil. This tract comprises south-western and western portion ofthe Territory. The soils
generally are sandy loam in texture. They are poor in organic matter and nitrogen, the
average nitrogen content of cultivated area being 0.032 per cent. The four soil series
identified in the tract are Najafgarh, Palam, Ladpur and Shikaipur.

Intensive vegetable production programme was started in December, 1964. An orchard-cum-

nursery was established during 1965-66 for the benefit of vegetable growers. Under applied
nutrition programme started in 1965-66 kitchen garden school gardens and community
gardens were established in Nangloi and Najafgarh Blocks.

Agricultural Marketing
The Bombay Agricultural Produce Market Act, 1939 extended to Delhi has been in force
since 1957. Under this Act three markets located at Narela, Najafgarh and Zakhira regulate
the marketing of agricultural produce in Delhi. The first two were grain mandis while the
third was a fodder mandi.
The Delhi Agricultural Produce Marketing (Regulation) Act, 1976 replaced the Bombay
Agricultural Produce Market Act 1939 on 5th November, 1976. Now the markets and market
committees at Najafgarh, Narela and Zakhira are being run under the new Act.
A.P.M.C. Najafgarh: Najafgarh market deals in agricultural produce including wheat, gram,
bajra, jawar. barley, mung, moth, urad, lobia, arhar, gur, sugar, sarson, taramira, tobacco,
khandsari, rice, paddy, maize, gur and cotton seed. Najafgarh Market Committee comprises
14 members as follows :
Agricultarists 6
Cooperative societies 1
Agents of traders 2
Weighman 1
Local body 1
Metropolitan Council 1
Consumers 2
Najafgarh Road industrial area was purely rural at the time ofits development but now it is
well within the urban limits.

The number of persons working in rural enterprises is the highest in Kanjhawala Block
followed by Shahdara-Alipur and Najafgarh Blocks. The figures for Najafgarh zone and Narela
zone are 9.095 persons (230 agriculture and 8,865 other than agri¬ culture) and 4,307
persons (36 agriculture and 4,271 other than agriculture) respectively.
Najafgarh Zone, com¬ prising Najafgarh town, Hakikat pur and Masudabad villages and
Mangolpuri, has as many as 4,567 enterprises (128 agricultural and 4,439 non-agricultural).

The Master Plan and Rural Development The Master Plan ofDelhi provided forthe
development of industrial estates in the adjacent rural areas such as Alipur, Kanjhawala,
Najafgarh and Narela. These were considered necessary because agricultural activity alone
was not expected to provide adequate employment to village people.

The Agricultural Marketing Board proposes to set up two grading centres at foodgrain
markets ofNarela and Najafgarh. This will enable the agriculturists to grade their produce by
sample quality test under the supervision and guidance of qualified graders and analysers
and would ensure them better price.