Themed gardens, welcome centre: SC panel gives conditional nod to Buddha Jayanti Park upgrade

According to the CPWD’s proposal, Phase I of the project involves the addition of two underground water-storage tanks, totalling 20 lakh litres, and laying of pipelines that collectively divert 6,489 sq m of forest land.

On the other hand, Phase II covers 35,159 sq m of “development and renovation” works: repairing and widening worn and slippery walking tracks; upgrading the park restaurant and toilets; adding five wooden gazebos and a welcome centre; introducing solar-panelled parking, leaf-shredders, sculptures, benches, dustbins and fencing; revamping the nursery and creating water pits for birds; and laying out a series of themed gardens. These include a mandala garden cut to the shape of a lotus pond with an island and clusters to protect existing trees, a nine-hued Navras garden, and Italian, French, Japanese and Kashmir-style terraced plots.

Among the conditions laid down by the CEC is that the department must deposit 5% of the project cost with the Ridge Management Board.

The work on pipelines will be tightly controlled — no major equipment is to move inside the Ridge, and alignments must be planned to avoid injury to standing trees. Any damage will attract a penalty of Rs 1,00,000 per tree in addition to action under the Indian Forest Act, 1927.

The committee has also said that the “raw water” currently used for irrigation is foul and polluted and that it requires minimal cleaning and filtration before release to gardens to protect soil health and local ecology.

To restore the area’s ecological character, which CEC has noted to be “virtually bereft” of native ridge species, the CPWD must plant and maintain three concentric rows along the park’s periphery, each consisting of not less than 1,000 indigenous fruit-bearing trees and shrubs, during the next monsoon. It also has to file quarterly compliance reports on the CEC portal.

The recommendation marks a turn from the committee’s findings last month, when it flagged excavation and pruning between 2022 and 2024 without mandatory approvals and ordered immediate ecological improvement measures, including planting of indigenous species, rainwater harvesting, on-site composting and a ban on single-use plastics. The directions were issued after a contempt plea by the New Delhi Nature Society, alleging breach of the SC’s 1996 Ridge-protection orders. The Supreme Court on August 6 had asked the CEC to report on the allegations.

Referring to this, the panel said in its latest report that officials may have commenced some development work without the top court’s sanction or prior approval from the Centre, either out of ignorance of the rules or some other compulsion. The panel said that any procedural lapses should not deprive the public of the project’s benefits, given that ecological safeguards need to be followed.

In justifying the upgrade, the CPWD had said in its application that the park offers a way for Delhi’s dense population to experience a forested landscape without opening sensitive stretches of the Ridge itself to heavier footfall and has pitched the developments as part of a low-impact eco-tourism plan.

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