Uprooting a forest for a park: The destructive ‘restoration’ of Delhi’s Central Ridge
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Earthmover tracks wind their way through a forest clearing. Caked and compacted soil is exposed to the sun. Tree saplings are planted in rows. There are piles of uprooted forest shrubs and chopped tree-trunks. A termite mound has been destroyed. This scene, reminiscent of a war zone, is from the Central Ridge of Delhi, an offshoot of the geologically ancient Aravalli Hills.
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The Ridge, located in the heart of Lutyen’s Delhi, has recently been taken up for ill-planned “restoration”. Surprisingly, the institution responsible is the one mandated to protect and conserve forests, the Delhi Forest Department.
The Central Ridge, covering 864 hectares at one time, is composed of gently undulating hills and rock faces, dry forests and grasslands, dissected by tiny rivulets. It was completely deforested during the Indian Uprising of 1857, when it was used for army encampments by the British.
From 1914, when Lutyen’s Delhi was being planned, this area was planted over with the exotic Vilayati Kikar (Neltuma juliflora), among other trees, with the aim of restoring Delhi’s greenery. Vilayati Kikar proved to be a resilient invasive that rapidly expanded its range, jostling out native flora and fauna, and currently overruns most of Delhi’s remaining forests.
A hundred years later, numerous native species have made a...