New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Rekha Gupta’s office on 9 May declared the Central Ridge a ‘reserved forest’, according 637 hectares of the Ridge the highest level of forest protection. Under Section 20 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927, any state government can declare a forest land as ‘reserved’ if all claims on it are settled.
According to the announcement by Gupta, the government also plans to plant native trees in parts of the Central Ridge. Plants such as neem, peepal, shisham, jamun, tamarind, and mango will be part of the plan.
“The government has already decided that large-scale plantation of native and environmentally suitable tree species will be carried out wherever suitable vacant land is available,” said the statement.
The Central Ridge, which extends from Sardar Patel Marg to the President’s Estate, and even toward Mandir Marg, is one of the four main constituent parts of the Delhi Ridge. After the 6,200-hectare Southern Ridge, the Central Ridge is the second largest part, comprising of 864 hectares.
However, the present notification has been issued only for 637 of the total 864 hectares, according to the statement shared by the Delhi CM. The initial notification for preserving the Ridge as a ‘reserved forest’ was passed in 1994, however, it is only now that the region will be legally protected. Earlier in November 2025, the Southern Ridge was notified as a reserved forest too, marking the end of a three-decade-long struggle.
“This decision reflects our commitment towards environmental conservation, expansion of green cover, and securing a safe and balanced future for coming generations,” Gupta said in a press release.
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Why Miyazaki plantation?
While the initial notification for the Ridge was issued in 1994, the Forest Department took more than 30 years to complete the demarcation because of land disputes and the long process of ground verification of Ridge land. Currently, the South-Central Ridge and the Northern Ridge also remain unprotected, and the government said it is working on expediting the notification process for those regions.
The announcement comes on the heels of a recent proposal to initiate a Miyawaki-style dense plantation in the Central Ridge, issued by the Department of Forests and Wildlife of Delhi. On 5 May, a request for proposal was initiated by the forest department to plant 1-1.5 lakh saplings in 10 acres, at a cost of Rs 5 crore.
This plantation was proposed to be located along degraded land near Sardar Patel Marg in the Central Ridge. Miyawaki is a Japanese-style of plantation that grows native plants rapidly, very close to each other, to boost green cover. However, studies have questioned the efficacy of Miyawaki-style plantations for the actual restoration of degraded forests.
According to the RFP accessed by ThePrint, the patch of land near Sardar Patel Marg is degraded because of human pressure, soil compaction and lack of restoration efforts. It also said that traditional plantation methods were not successful and resulted in low survival rates, which is why the government is choosing to grow a Miyawaki plantation.
According to the Forest Survey of India, ‘reserved forest’ is the highest degree of protection a forest land can get, and it prohibits all kinds of activity, including human interference. Delhi’s Ridge is one of the oldest forests in the country, and is an extension of the millennia-old Aravallis. The forest was surveyed and mapped by the British government, too; however, it had eluded protection under the Delhi government for years.
There have been multiple cases of tree logging, deforestation, and encroachment on several parts of the fragmented Ridge, many of which are currently ongoing in the Supreme Court and the National Green Tribunal. One of the major reasons is the lack of a proper definition and protection for the Ridge, which would allow the forest department to demarcate and protect it as a reserved forest.
(Edited by Prasanna Bachchhav)