NEW DELHI: The Delhi Development Authority (DDA) has written to the Union environment ministry, requesting it to allow compensatory afforestation (CA) for all projects undertaken in the city in the neighbouring states in view of a scarcity of land in the national capital.
The land-owning agency said the ministry should at least relax the guidelines issued under the Forest Conservation Act to allow compensatory afforestation for the projects implemented by the Centre and public sector undertakings (PSUs) on degraded forest land in the neighbouring states.
In its letter, DDA cited paragraph 2.3(v) of chapter 2 of the Handbook of Forest Conservation Act, which says: "In exceptional cases, where non-forest land/degraded forest land, as the case may be, for CA is not available in the same state/Union territory in which the diversion of forest land is proposed, land for CA can be identified in any other state/UT, preferably in a neighbouring state/UT."
