NEW DELHI: Wildlife was in abundance in Delhi till the formation of the new imperial capital — New Delhi. More than what citizens can think of today. According to the first edition of Delhi District Gazetteer, published in 1883-84, leopards were found in outskirts villages like Tughlaqabad and Nilgais (antelopes) were frequently seen in Burari and Kadipur. The gazetteer further describes; pigs would usually remain confined to the jungle along the Yamuna. Foxes and hares were common in the eastern bank of the river. While Blackbucks were everywhere, Chinkara (Indian gazelle) were in plenty in the range of hills in northeast Delhi and parts of the ridge.
The presence of wolves, jackals, hares, peafowl, ducks and snipes, hedgehogs, varieties of snakes, and monkeys also made wildlife in Delhi more vibrant.“Mahasir, rohu, and batchwa — kinds of fish — are found in the river Jamuna (Yamuna) and at Okhlah (Okhla) in Agra canal and the river are infested with mugger (marsh crocodile) and the gurryal (gharial) predominating; but the snub-nosed man-eater is also plentiful… Between the old fort and Okhlah, they are equally numerous,” says a chapter on Delhi’s wildlife in the gazetteer.
The administration paid ‘reward’ for killing ‘dangerous’ animals as per the rules prevailing at that time; for leopards, it was Rs 5 and for (female) wolves Rs 5 was given and Rs 3 was fixed for a male wolf. With the city landscape changing drastically over the century, most of the wildlife has decimated or is restricted to certain pockets. The provision of ‘reward’ has been done away with.
The transformations of the city and changes in administrative rules have been appropriately recorded in subsequent gazetteers — a geographical index of the city. The second gazetteer was printed in 1912.
The third or last gazetteer of Delhi — comprising revised social statistics, history and physical features of a city or state was published in 1976.
Now, after a span of 44 years, the Delhi Archives has decided to bring out a revised gazetteer and revive its almost defunct ‘gazetteer unit’ to kick start preparations for the same. “The unit is nearly defunct. No posting or fresh appointment is being done though staff retired long ago. The gazetteer is a regular feature, which should be revised every decade. Since a lot of changes have taken place in the city since 1976, all these developments should be recorded in the gazetteer as it is one of the important reference books,” said Sanjay Garg, head of the Archives.
A professor of History and author, Shama Mitra Chenoy, said that though the gazetteer is an important record of the past, one must be updated and published regularly.“While researching for my PhD, I had come to a point, where I couldn’t find information on trades prevailing at that time in Delhi, vertical supply chain, and other things. Then, I took the help of the gazetteer,” said Chenoy, who teaches at Shivaji College, DU.
The first two Delhi district gazetteers were published by the Punjab Government as Delhi was part of its administration then. HC Beadon, deputy commissioner of Delhi in 1910, revised the gazetteer but it was published, after incorporating the 1911 census data, in 1912.The third edition was compiled in 1976 by the Delhi Administration when Radha Raman was the chief executive councillor (CEC), a post equivalent to the CM of Delhi.
“Population of Delhi has increased manifold since then and the city has also seen phenomenal growth. Villages are urbanised. A revised gazetteer is required for authoritative work of reference,” said Garg.