Delhi’s Dwarka rail terminal petition shows that citizen activism is vital to protect loosely defined ‘deemed forests’

The Supreme Court has temporarily halted the felling of trees in Sector 21 of Delhi’s Dwarka  for the redevelopment of the Bijwasan rail terminal in response to an appeal from a 23-year-old environmental activist Naveen Solanki, who claimed that the land was actually a deemed forest. 

In February, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) dismissed the plea against the felling of trees on the land for the redevelopment project declaring it was not classified as forest. Environmentalists, residents, and youth leaders have opposed the order claiming facts were misrepresented and it should be categorised as deemed forest. 

In July, they came together to protest against the project by starting a ‘Save Dwarka Forest’ tweetstorm on X (formerly Twitter). Hundreds of activists banded together to write posts and create awareness and a digital petition was also floated a few days after the social media campaign. 

Solanki, a native of Shahabad Mohammadpur, an urban village situated near 120 acres  (48.5 Ha) of disputed land, has been spearheading a movement to protect the forest land since January 2022 when he witnessed the first incident of trees felling. 

The trees were being cleared for a project to merge two small neighbouring rail stations, Bijwasan and Shahabad Mohammadpur, into a large rail terminal. Spanning 110.07 hectares, the project also included mixed-use residential and commercial construction plans as per the project proposal.

It was discovered that the Rail Land Development Authority (RLDA), which is behind the development, had reportedly not taken permission from Delhi’s forest department. While a penalty was imposed on the organisation, protesters believed it was not enough as such large infrastructure projects also required an Environment Impact Assessment, which was not carried out. 

Raising funds

The petitioner also stated that the project should also be sanctioned from the Centre under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 (FCA). They had carried out an independent survey in June, which estimated the total number of trees in the region to be 25,000, thus putting it in the category of a deemed forest. 

However, a petition filed in the NGT by someone not a part of the movement resulted in a setback when the court stated that the RLDA land was not a deemed forest, nor that category is protected under FCA after the 2023 amendment. 

The SC order dated 17th September restraining authorities from construction and damaging trees and land is just an interim relief. The case will be heard next on October 21. 

“A lot of people approached us regarding the issue of felling of trees mercilessly…yes you can consider me an environmentalist who is surely concerned,” said RM Asif, the advocate who initiated the NGT case. 

He claimed that the court worked ‘mechanically without looking at the gravity’  of the situation as they were thinking along the “mindset of the government and not the petitioners”. 

NGT order

Technically, a deemed forest is defined as a forest, regardless of its ownership, recognition, or notification status. While the land was not a forest as per the municipal records, the forest department in its submission to NGT stated that the ‘status of the land as deemed forest is not ruled out’. 

Any patch of land considered a deemed forest should cover an area of more than 2.5 acres with a density of over 100 trees per acre. However, the court at the time didn’t order a survey to calculate the number of trees.

Instead, it considered the figure submitted by the petitioner, which was based on an arbitrary “survey conducted by a failed bidder” calculating the number to be just 1,100 trees that didn’t fulfil the conditions of a deemed forest. 

As per Asif, emotions drove people who approached him. They needed to get the exact figures or close enough numbers, however, at the time the only counts pertaining to the trees were from government reports. 

Solanki, on the other hand, said that the independent survey estimated the number of trees to be 525 trees in a 2.5 acres of area. 

The results of the survey conducted on June 6 through the Global Positioning System (DGPS) by a private engineering firm were accessed by the Land Conflict Watch. It gauged the total number of trees to be around 25,000 in the entire area, and thus, more than 100 trees per acre. 

“The entire length of forest land is 120 acres and the number of trees per acre is coming up to 210 trees, which fulfils the requisite category of deemed forest,” he said. 

Interestingly the FCA amendment was applicable at the time of the NGT judgement, which didn’t cover deemed forest, and cutting of trees in it didn’t require permission from the Centre. 

However, only six days after the NGT ruling, the Supreme Court put a stay on the amendment and ordered the states to follow the dictionary meaning of forest during its classification. This would mean that the deemed forest would continue to be protected under FCA until further order. 

Up until the case was filed in the NGT in November 2023, there was a temporary lull in clearing of trees due to Solanki’s complaint on 18 January, which has led to an inquiry into the matter that found that a total of 990 trees were “illegally” cut for the project in June 2022 and a Rs 5.93 crore fine was imposed on RLDA. 

The first notice dated February 3 was sent by the forest department to the Indian Railway Station Development Corporation Limited (IRSDC), which was managing the project earlier, mentioned that about 17 trees of different species were cut in violation of Delhi Preservation of Tree Act, 1994. 

Later when the project was handed over to the RLDA, another notice was sent on 2nd March stipulating that about 131 fully grown trees, mostly Sheesham and desi Kikkar were felled. In May, more notices were sent.

After the RLDA failed to join the investigation as per law, an order was passed by the department to find evidence to prove the claim, which was being denied by RLDA despite time-lapse satellite imagery. 

Finally, officials from RLDA attended the hearing in June after more notices were sent and the survey finding of the loss of 990 trees over an area of 4.09 Ha was established and Rs 60,000 was charged for each of the damaged trees. 

As per the forest department, the trees were not being cut but buried alive. Under the Delhi Preservation of Trees Act, 1994, cutting trees requires the state government's permission. Some of the submerged trees were taken care of and re-erected by the authorities on the same site. 

But after NGT labelled it as not a “forest land,” RLDA was again free to continue their work, which angered those working to protect the land, which allegedly hosts rich biodiversity comprising 65 bird types, 50 Nilgai, wild rabbits, jungle cats, and Indian lizards.

All these species have been catalogued by the residents of Dwarka. Additionally, they have recorded the reduction in the forest size over the years through satellite imagery as well. 

Land status in government records

Records show that the ‘forest’ land was initially owned by the Delhi Development Authority and handed over to the Ministry of Railways for the Bijwasan terminal redevelopment on a perpetual lease basis in 2008. 

The project was initially awarded to the IRSDC in 2016, the construction on the non-forested areas had already started from that year. But it was shut down in 2021.

The RLDA took over the project, now being built through a public-private partnership (PPP). Reportedly, it has joined hands with Kamladityya Construction Pvt Ltd, which was awarded the project for 270.82 crore. 

The RLDA affidavit claimed that at the time the land was handed to them by the DDA, it was barren as per Google Earth photograph and it was only ‘over a period of time that some trees and shrubs had grown’ on it. 

“This forest absorbs the heavy emissions caused by the nearby Indira Gandhi International Airport. Clearing it will only create more heatwaves and pollution in the city, which is already reeling under extreme weather events and smog,” said Tanuja Chauhan, a resident of Noida, who is also a part of the campaign. 

The Shahabad Mohammadpur village, on the other hand, has existed since before the British left. Over the years, their farms were acquired for railways built by the British and the Indian government for the airport, among other nearby infrastructure constructions.

Solanki showed the project proposal and pointed out how it didn’t include a government girl school, a DDA water body, and most importantly, the extended part of the village where JJ colonies were settled in the 1960s and 1970s by Indira Gandhi for the underprivileged.

As per the project proposal, phase one will include essential developments - rail terminal platforms, the station’s main building and roads on one part of the forest. It also included non-essential mixed-use buildings, which are a part of Transit Oriented Development (TOD), a concept promoted by the 2021 DDA masterplan.

The second phase will include mostly such development, which might be taken up in the next five-seven years and will cover the rest of the forest. They will take over all the other settlements, which are completely missing from the maps. 

Even within phase one, the village is going to be completely closed off due to the rail project. Residents of those colonies, especially, will be hit as they depend on the forest for firewood and other natural resources. 

It also has some patches that serve as grazing land for reared cattle in the area. They fear environmental degradation as well that will be followed by the project. 

Sukriti Vats is a Writing Fellow with Land Conflict Watch, an independent network of researchers, which carries out research on land and natural resources.