NEW DELHI: The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) will assess the impact of human habitations on the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary, which is witnessing an increase in wildlife population, officials said.
The assessment will be part of a study to ascertain the possible effects of the dumping of inert civic waste in the abandoned Bhatti mines.
The erstwhile Municipal Corporation (South) in 2020 moved a proposal to use four 30-metre-deep pits measuring 477 acres for dumping of inert waste as they ran out of space to store tonnes of inert material generated in the city.
The Ridge Management Board, a high-powered body mandated to protect the Delhi Ridge had set up a five-member panel in March last year to examine the proposal. The panel had suggested that a study should be conducted on the likely impact of dumping of inert material on the flora and fauna of the region.
The WII recently submitted a proposal to conduct a multidisciplinary study in the sanctuary to “collect baseline information on soil and groundwater, and flora, fauna and herpetofauna (lizards, snakes and tortoises) in the mined out pits”.
The study will identify and evaluate the cultural impact of nearby villages on the wildlife sanctuary, the WII said. “The tremendous biotic pressure threatens the existence of the flora and fauna in the sanctuary,” it said. Activities such as poaching, cattle grazing, fuelwood collection and lopping result in high forest degradation, the institute said. The WII will also assess vegetation composition and structure in the abandoned mines.