Even as the Noida International Airport in Jewar is set to become operational by September, the eco-sensitive Dhanauri wetland site, located 15 km away, is yet to be granted protection. While granting environmental clearance to the proposed airport, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change had laid down a specific condition that a “conservation plan for birds and fauna, in consultation with the Wildlife Institute of India, shall be submitted within six months from the grant of clearance and be implemented in letter and spirit”. However, the Uttar Pradesh government has yet to make a decision in this regard. In its affidavit submitted to the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on January 20, the Ministry said: “The respondent (MoEF) has not received any proposal along with requisite documents from the State Government of UP/UP State Wetland Authority for designating Dhanauri wetland as a Ramsar site till date.” The affidavit further said emails were sent to the state government on August 30, 2022, and October 17, 2023, to submit the documents. In the National Inventory of Wetlands, the Dhanauri wetland is mapped across around 98 hectares around the villages of Dhanauri, Thasrana, and Aminpur Bangar in Dankaur tehsil in Gautam Buddha Nagar. The Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (YEIDA) Master Plan 2031, however, shows the Dhanauri Wetland occupying 16.89 hectares and the green belt surrounding it 38.80 hectares, which makes the total area 55.69 hectares — less than the inventory. In the remaining area, plots have been allotted under schemes of the authority and construction has begun at many places. In its report submitted to the NGT on January 19, the Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Gautam Buddha Nagar said it has written to YEIDA, the land-owning agency, to get the wetland area revised to 97.97 hectares as recorded in the inventory. The DFO also said acting on its letter, the UP State Wetland Authority has written to the UP Ministry of Environment to clarify the position of the proponent department for declaring Dhanauri Wetland as a Ramsar site. When contacted, Dr Arun Vir Singh, YEIDA CEO, said, “When the master plan was made, the DFO was contacted at that time. They said there is about 55 hectares of wetland area. Now they are saying it is around 98 hectares. Plots have been allotted to people, how can they be returned? The authority will superimpose the map and will see the actual position on the ground.” He further said the Authority will do the needful to save the area as it is a matter concerning the environment. “The Authority already gave a no-objection certificate for the Ramsar site in June 2022. If this is the minimum required land for the site, the authority will give the land on the other side (of the wetland) which is vacant and allotments have not been made,” said Singh. Incidentally, the NGT, in its November 20, 2023, order, had noted that the wetland area demarcated in the master plan appears to be lesser as compared to that in the wetlands inventory. Meanwhile, bird-watcher Anand Arya, who had filed a petition in the NGT seeking a stay on the construction till the wetland is granted protection, said: “It is complete bureaucratic apathy. You cannot change the wetland, it enjoys protection granted under a 2017 Supreme Court order.” The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands is an intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for the conservation of wetlands and their resources. India is a signatory.
