Press Release
Date: 05/08/2022
The Sanjay Van Community appeals to stop further destruction of Delhi’s last remaining green space, writes to LG & CMO
Delhi citizens appeal to withdraw the Tender Notification issued by Delhi Development Authority to convert the Sanjay Van area into an Eco-Tourism Hub and more.
What Are Lt. Governor And DDA Planning?
Delhi L-G, Vinay Kumar Saxena, has directed officials to identify areas within the forest for organising national and international conferences, cultural events etc. He has also proposed the construction of restaurants, drinking water facilities and toilets inside the forest for the convenience of visitors. This would change the nature of Sanjay Van as a reserved forest, posing risks for further degradation. DDA is planning to utilize the forest area for recreational purposes according to the latest Tender Notification.
The steps are being actively taken in this regard, as DDA has signed a greenwashing MoU with World Wide Fund for Nature India (WWF India) for apparent “nature-based learning” and “experiential activities” at Sanjay Van. The tender notification features measures to introduce rock climbing, paragliding, aerial trails (canopy tours, ziplines, valley crossing, Burma bridge crossing), forest safari, leisure cycling, camping, and picnic spots, star gazing, bird watching, guided nature tours, and flora and fauna observation trips. Sanjay Van is one of the few untouched green lungs of the capital but this proposed Eco-Tourism by DDA is inviting more disaster to the National Capital’s already dismal environmental record.
What Makes Sanjay Van Special?
A sprawling city forest area near Vasant Kunj and Mehrauli in Delhi, Sanjay Van is spread over an area of 780 acres. It is one of the most thickly wooded areas of the city and acts as its green lungs. Sanjay Van is home to several avifauna species and diverse varieties of trees. Because of the same, Sanjay Van is frequented by a lot of birdwatchers and also cyclists who come here to ride in and breathe fresh air in the morning.
Sanjay Van is a pleasant escape into nature from the chaos and din of the city. Considered to be a favourite of the naturalists, the forest is home to rich wildlife. Aside from birds that include Eurasian golden oriole, purple sunbird, Asian koel, Brahminy starling, Indian silverbill, white-throated kingfisher, Grey-breasted Prinia, crested honey buzzard, rufous treepie, and Indian paradise flycatcher, etc., the forest also conserves habitat for jackals, snakes, nilgais and several species of butterflies.
Human Impact On Sanjay Van
The forest, which is part of the Mehrauli South Central Ridge, has undergone severe degradation in recent times with the proliferation of the Prosopis juliflora tree which is non-endemic to the Aravalli Ranges and has caused depletion of the groundwater level, killing native flora and changing the natural soil characteristics of the Aravallis.
Sewage water and effluent which is discharged into Sanjay Van has also affected this green belt in the Capital.
As per the news report, the base of the trees at Sanjay Van is already choking with concrete around it.
Experts have already warned that “Forest areas should be left untouched, as we don’t have a lot of genuine forest area left in Delhi. Nature trails are already there in Sanjay Van and anything beyond that would be an invasion of forest land.”
Moreover, there is already a lot of garbage in terms of plastic waste that is thrown in the forests of Sanjay Van which remains there with no efforts by the local authorities to clean them.
The recent proposal of L-G and DDA to convert Sanjay Van into an Eco-Tourism hub will deteriorate the only left green belts of Delhi. The National Capital has already made international headlines for its poor air quality every year. Despite making headlines and installing smog towers, every measure to contain it has failed miserably. And disturbing the green belts would be an aid to this incompetence, catastrophic to say the least.
The Sanjay Van Community
There Is No Earth B, a community of nature lovers consisting of citizens from every walk of life have taken it upon themselves to save the city’s green belts by initiating regular weekly clean-up drives to clean up Sanjay Van. The community has removed over 6 tons of non-biodegradable waste from sanjay van over the past 3 years without any support from civic authorities.
Some of the testimonials of these nature warriors from the community will prove that garbage is openly thrown at Sanjay Van damaging the forests with no measures or steps taken by the authorities.
Community Testimonials
“The alteration of environment in disguise of urbanization has far fetched impacts. We need to process the cost we would have to pay at the expense of our comfort. Building restaurants over trees would earn you an easy coffee today but a hard breathe to your child. Every summer passing is the coldest summer you’re going to witness in your life ahead. It only increases here on. The time to save earth is now.”
– Ananya, from the community There Is No Earth B.
“On my first clean-up drive at Sanjay Van, I was shocked to see so much non-biodegradable waste. Sanjay Van is an environmentally sensitive area that needs to be protected from further damage. Opening it up to more businesses will be the end of this pristine forest.”
– Sheranya, a student of LSR, DU. She has participated in more than 20 Sanjay Van cleanup drives.
“We as ‘There Is No Earth B’ have been regularly coming to Sanjay Van to clean up the garbage ourselves as we did not see any action from the civic authorities. Since 2019, we have removed over 5 tons of non-biodegradable waste from Sanjay Van.”
– Tanvi a medical student at VMMC.
“Now we see the authorities trying to redefine/manipulate the goal of environmental awareness by converting the urban forest into an amusement park.”
– Nandini, a student of LSR, DU.
“I regularly visit Sanjay Van for morning walks and weekend nature outings and have been part of the clean-up drives organized by the volunteers over there. It breaks my heart and soul to see such a disastrous step by the DDA to destroy the beautiful and the only natural green belt left in Delhi. It is even more soul-wrenching to see that the South Delhi area has considerably lost all the green belts and the authorities at DDA are now going to let the magnificence of nature called Sanjay Van, be destroyed. I urge the authorities to take urgent and immediate steps to prevent this from happening.”
– Faryadur, college student. He volunteers his time cleaning up Sanjay Van every Sunday.
“We need to value the immense contribution of pre-existing natural infrastructure which has been working round the clock without human intervention to make our cities livable. We either protect our forests today, or we let grown men in power tout gimmicks and compare (smog tower) sizes. The choice is yours; speak now or choke forever (however long that is).”
– Dhrstadyumn, from the community ‘There Is No Earth B’, which has removed over 6 tons of non-biodegradable waste from Sanjay Van in the past three years without any government or corporate support.
Demands By The Community
There Is No Earth B is actively appealing against the commercialisation of the forest proposed by the LG and DDA. DDA, in its plans to utilize Sanjay Vann, has floated multiple EOIs since September 2021, attempting to persuade private firms to promote the commercialization of the forest. Even so, There Is No Earth B, has expressed its indifference to the construction projects and concerns for the forest’s maintenance through tweets and emails directed to the LG and Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
Over 1,800 people have written directly to the authorities to stop the destruction of Sanjay Van and the eco-sensitive area around it. They request the LG and CMO to:
- Direct the Delhi Development Authority to recall the Tender Notice issued for Eco-Tourism at Sanjay Van.
- Direct South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) to do proper clean-up of the Sanjay Van.
- Direct SDMC to take strict action against the spilling of garbage, plastic waste at Sanjay Van.
- Direct SDMC to conduct regular awareness campaigns on sustainability, the climate crisis, and the importance of Sanjay Van for the national capital
- Install new waste bins by replacing the old and damaged ones.
There Is No Earth B is a community that aims to contribute toward the building of inclusive, organic, and decentralized Climate Action and Advocacy movements. They have been actively doing cleanups in Sanjay Van since 14th April 2019. You can join them every Sunday at 9 am in Sanjay Van. Follow them on @thereisnoearthb on social media for more updates.
HD Pictures:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1MXkv6EuuU33GisbW5A4dc0juCb6AzPLV?usp=sharing
To see the work done by the Sanjay Van community since April 14, 2019, visit There Is No Earth B’s Instagram page.
Media Pitch
This Sunday the Sanjay Vann Community, There Is No Earth B, comes together for another one of their weekend cleanup drives in Sanjay Vann. The community that aims to build inclusive, organic, and decentralized Climate Action and Advocacy movements, has been actively conducting these drives since 14th April 2019.
There Is No Earth B has removed over 6 tons of non-biodegradable waste from Sanjay vann over the past three years without any support from civic authorities and is actively appealing against the commercialisation of the forest proposed by the DDA. The community has expressed its indifference to the construction projects and shown concern over the proposed plans of LG and DDA of turning the prominent forest into an eco-tourism hub. There Is No Earth B has appealed to the DDA to withdraw the Tender Notification that plans to establish an eco-tourism hub in the forest area.
Over 1,807 people have written directly to the authorities to stop the destruction of Sanjay Vann and the eco-sensitive area around it. They request the LG and CMO to Direct the Delhi Development Authority to recall the Tender Notice issued for Eco-Tourism at Sanjay Van, ensure proper clean-ups of the forest and take strict action against the spilling of garbage, and plastic waste at Sanjay Van.
Additional Notes
From Chandrabhushan, an experienced bird watcher from Delhi:
Biodiversity at Sanjay Van
Sanjay Van is the green lung of South Delhi, which is spread in more than 600 hectares. It is a thickly wooded area with great diversity of trees and shrubs, which in turn supports the wonderful biodiversity of wildlife. This includes more than 200 species of birds, 70+ butterflies and many mammals such as Neelgai, Jackals, Hare, Porcupines along with snakes and numerous insects.
An Indian golden jackal in Sanjay Van
Delhi already has plenty of parks, but still some dense forest parts of Sanjay van is being cleared in last few years to create manicured garden and put decorative flowers plants there and makeover them into a park. One of such area is the so-called ‘Peacock hill’ about 500 meters inside the Sanjay van while coming from Qutub Institutional side.
Earlier this are area was covered with trees and shrubs and it was home for many beautiful birds such as Red munia, Scaly-breasted munia, House sparrows etc and some uncommon birds were also seen there, such as Red-headed bunting, White-capped bunting and Bluethroat. But as and when, this area got converted into a flower garden and park, the diversity in this particular area diminished. So, habitat degradation and destruction in any way will adversely affect biodiversity. Butterflies and birds are highly sensitive in nature and any type of alteration will drastically impact the number of these species.
Birds at Sanjay Van
Sanjay van is home to several birds, among which more than 200 birds have been documented. This data is available in public domain at e-bird database of Cornell Lab of Ornithology. This list includes many winter migrant birds and some very uncommon and rare birds.
Some migratory water birds that visit Sanjay van are Northern Shoveler, Gadwall, Green-winged Teal, Ferruginous Duck etc. Other migratory birds which visit Sanjay van are Oriental Turtle-Dove, Brooks’s Leaf Warbler, Lemon-rumped Warbler, Sulphur-bellied Warbler, Tickell’s Leaf Warbler, Whistler’s Warbler, Western Crowned Warbler, Orange-headed Thrush, Verditer Flycatcher etc.
Some rare birds which have been documented in Sanjay van are Common Grasshopper-Warbler, Scaly Thrush, Tickell’s Thrush, Ultramarine Flycatcher, Gray Bushchat, Lesser Fish-Eagle, Short-eared Owl etc. Sighting of Lesser fish eagle at Sanjay van was the first-ever photo documentation in Delhi of this species.
Some other uncommon sightings are of Jungle Nightjar, Short-toed Snake-Eagle, Black Eagle, Tawny Eagle, Imperial Eagle, Besra. It is breeding place of an beautiful bird Indian Paradise flycatcher.
In July, 2010 the nest discovered in this southern ridge of Sanjay van by Dr. Surya Prakash, (JNU), was the nesting record of Paradise flycatcher after a gap of 35 years. It was the bottom spread cover story of Times of India on that day. There are not many places within Delhi where they have bred successfully.
Butterflies at Sanjay Van
Other than birds, more than 70 butterflies have been documented in Sanjay van, which includes some rare and uncommon butterflies such as Indian Common Lineblue, Indian Common Shot Silverline, Tawny Coster, Lesser Three-ring, Western Striped Albatross, Asian Cabbage White, Sind White Arab etc. This data is also available at public domain on ‘Butterflies of India’ website.
In many parts of Sanjay van, shrubs and bushes are being getting cleared, as these are unwanted and useless. But it is a fact that these bushes are home of many birds. These are nectar and host plant of plenty of butterflies and also safe place for reptiles.
Apart from birds and butterflies which are readily seen in this jungle, some other species also exist here, which are not visible in open but are using this habitat. These are reptiles such as snakes, Monitor lizards etc.; and other shy animals such as jackals, hare etc.; with some nocturnal animals like porcupines.
Many of the proposed events are already going on in Sanjay van for many years such as Bird-watching, Butterfly watching, Nature walks etc. It was earlier proposed to develop Sanjay van as a Bird Sanctuary by DDA in the presence of the then–LG Tajender Khanna, but it couldn’t be materialised.
Even a document regarding Sanjay van on the DDA website suggests that they are working to develop a bird sanctuary at Sanjay Van. This will be a better idea than altering its habitat by development in other ways. The habitat should be preserved as it is because whatever we are doing in the name of development is further deteriorating the situation.
Thank you for your consideration! Please highlight the importance of preserving the remaining green lungs of Delhi. Our lives depend on it.
__
There Is No Earth B is a community that aims to contribute toward the building of inclusive, organic, and decentralized Climate Action and Advocacy movements. They have been actively doing cleanups in Sanjay Van since 14th April 2019. You can join in to save Sanjay Van by signing this citizen appeal and participating in clean-up drives every Sunday at 9 am in Sanjay Van. Follow them on @thereisnoearthb on social media for more updates.