NEW DELHI: The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has written to the city forest department, informing it that land in the Yamuna floodplains is ‘no longer available for compensatory afforestation and plantation’.
The forest department earlier told the DDA that land in the Yamuna floodplains is required for a central government project to "rejuvenate the Delhi stretch of the river through forestry intervention".
The Union Environment Ministry had in March released the detailed project reports (DPRs) for the rejuvenation of 13 rivers through forestry intervention.
The forest department said it conducted a detailed analysis on the direction of the Delhi chief secretary and found that land measuring around 9,000 hectares is available in the Yamuna floodplains. The DDA replied that the forest department’s assessment of land availability in the river floodplains was “not based on facts”.
The agency said there is just 1,267 hectares of land available for development in the Yamuna floodplains from the Wazirabad barrage to the Okhla barrage.