Delhi's Ridge gets legal shield as reserved forest cover surges 54-fold

The next addition is 112.328 hectares of the Northern Ridge, which the Delhi Government is now moving to notify as reserved forest. Once notified, the total reserved forest area in the city will rise to 5,363.169 hectares, or about 13,252 acres.

The significance of the move goes beyond the size of the number. Reserved-forest status gives the administration a stronger legal framework to deal with activities such as encroachment, unauthorised construction and tree felling in protected areas.

.......Real test begins after notification.....

The government had also approved the inclusion of around 400 hectares of additional Southern Ridge land as reserved forest last month, widening the legal protection around one of Delhi's most critical natural assets.

The Ridge is not merely open green land. It forms an important ecological buffer for the Capital, supporting biodiversity and groundwater recharge while helping maintain the city's environmental balance.

But the sharp expansion of the notified area also raises a more immediate administrative question of how much of this legal protection will translate into protection on the ground.

Notification can establish the legal status of land; it does not, by itself, remove existing encroachments or prevent future violations. Effective boundary demarcation, surveillance, action against illegal construction and protection against tree felling will determine whether the expansion becomes a meaningful conservation measure.

For Delhi, therefore, the latest figures mark both an environmental expansion and an enforcement challenge, turning thousands of hectares from legally vulnerable land into protected forest is only the first step. The harder task will be keeping them protected.