THIS LAND IS MY LAND, THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND
Vikram Soni (UGC Professor, National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi – v_soni@vsnl.com
Natural Resources are an irreplaceable endowment of nature, created by evolution over
millions of years. These include national parks, rivers, rainforest, freshwater bodies,
springs, aquifers... These, our natural treasury, preserve our biodiversity and all the vital
elements of life. Lately, they have been in a state of siege due to the pressure of
development and conspicuous consumption. The world recognizes that the environmental
crises we are faced with are a consequence of this. Especially, as urbanization runs
unchecked and land prices inflates, the invaluable natural heritage sites are being gobbled
down by commercial pressures. The enduring value of this natural resource is often being
missed for short-term gain.
And this brings us to an issue that is causing violent cracks, often smeared in blood, in
developing societies. Of late large swathes of virgin land in the newly formed states of
Jharkhand and Chattisgarh have been ravaged in he name of development for industry.
This has extinguished natural heritage and resource and sullied the pure river waters,
permanently. What is alarming is that what took evolution millions of years to make is
snuffed out in a year or two without the elementary exercise of understanding and
estimating its enduring value. Recall the siege laid on the tropical rainforest of the
Amazon and Sarawak. Mining has done this once to too often in many lands. And in
India the latest run is on prime agricultural land, which is being diverted to industry for
Special Economic Zones. The value of the good soil and the groundwater so crucial for
agriculture, and not at all for industry, is not weighed.
A TALE OF ONE CITY
Let us look at one such area, right under our nose, which has great value but is being
thoughtlessly taken out. This is the ridge area adjacent to the Nelson Mandela Road. This
area is bound by the NH-8 to the west, Nelson Mandela road to the east, Vasant Vihar to
the North and Vasant Kunj/ Mahipalpur to the south. Of the total 640 hectares of this
land, 315 ha. is with the DDA and 325 ha. is with the Army.
The Delhi Ridge is underlain with ancient quartzite that has countless fractures of two
billion years of time and natural history. This endows the ridge with the amazing ability
to recharge 80% of the rain that falls on it, making it a remarkable sanctuary for pure
water. This is highly protected area. It is undoubtedly ridge - protected by all the Master
Plans, it is forest – protected by the Forest Act (1980) and as we have shown an
invaluable water recharge area.
The Central Groundwater Authority report (2004) to the CEC (Centrally Empowered
Committee of the Supreme Court) on the area says:
‘As these (quartzite) fracture zones are interconnected, this ridge area is acting as a single
aquifer system. 85% of rainfall is being percolated into this aquifer system through joints
and fractures in the hard rock’. Based on the above facts, it is imperative that the areas
extending from south west of Mehrauli to Masudpur and north to Vasant Vihar is
‘Recharge Area’ for the underlying aquifers in the vicinity. Development activities may
adversely affect the groundwater regime’.
Freshwater is already scarce. Water is a local resource and must be guarded if we are to
avoid a major crisis. The Prime Minister, at recent meeting at Vigyan Bhavan in July
2006, said, ‘We need to notify and preserve such areas as water sanctuaries.’
The high, dense development that has been allowed in this protected resource area, the
malls and the huge Army colonies, contrary to all expert findings by the government and
the court, are killing recharge and polluting the water. In all developed countries such
special natural recharge and aquifer systems are strictly preserved and protected, as they
cannot be substituted by engineering.
Economics
Now let us estimate market values of this land. residential land in Vasant Vihar runs at
over Rs 3 lakhs per square meter. The malls are on commercial land, where you can
build even 8 stories if you include the basement. The price of commercial land is
obviously three times higher; say about Rs 9 lakhs per square meter. The area of the
malls is 25 hectares. One hectare is 10,000 square meters. Simple multiplication gives its
commercial value to be about Rs 20,000 crores! Sold for Rs 1,100 crores without
mandatory environmental clearances. Feel the difference.
Overnight, the new owners made about Rs 20,000 crores without any productive output.
And almost nobody noticed this miracle. Is it a surprise that such land abuse spawns
speculation, inflation and violence?
Now, if we take the whole of the 640 hectares of this protected ridge and value it
commercially, we get it’s market value, about $120 billion. This is a fifth of the GNP of
India. Can 6.5 square kilometres of land in a country whose land area is 3.4 million
square kilometres value at one fifth of its GNP? This is insane.
We have about 6.5 sq km of quartzite lain Arravali Ridge, which, according to the
CGWA, will recharge 3 billion litres of water in a year. The water is unpolluted and
quality drinking water. If we sell this as bottled water at the prevailing rate of Rs 10 per
bottle it means that this resource values at 3,000 crores per year! - without hurting the
land. This resource is of permanent and increasing value.
The Army has already destroyed half the area it has, in defiance of all laws, and both the
MOEF and the Courts have turned a blind eye and permitted construction of the malls.
How did this happen to a completely protected area, which is a priceless resource and
ancient natural heritage, when all our constitutional authorities know this intimately and
accept it? All the committees of the government and the court, six of them over ten years,
have repeatedly and unambiguously said so. The answer is blowing in the wind.