New Delhi, Jul 13 (PTI) The Delhi forest department’s plan to shift a herd of Sambar deer from the elite Delhi Golf Club (DGC) to their new home in the capital’s Asola Bhatti Sanctuary has been put on hold till the construction of the sanctuary’s boundary wall is completed, officials have said.
One of the oldest and reputed institutions in the heart of Delhi, the DGC had last year approached the Delhi Forest and Wildlife Department, requesting them to shift the deer to the Asola Sanctuary, which is witnessing an increase in wildlife population.
It is not exactly known if the deer existed from the beginning or if someone introduced them into the DGC. Their number has increased over time. There are 30 to 40 Sambar deer in the DGC at present. The deer stomp on the grass of the golf course and damage it.
In winter months, when food is scarce, they start eating the grass, which increases the maintenance cost, according to DGC officials.
“The sanctuary’s boundary wall is fragmented on the Haryana side. The concern is that the deer may get hurt or killed on the roads passing through or abutting the sanctuary,” a senior forest official said.
“We will definitely shift the deer from the DGC to the Asola Sanctuary, but we would like to complete the construction of the boundary wall before that,” he said.
The construction work is going on. But one cannot say when it will be completed, another official said.
According to Bombay Natural History Society, at least five leopards have died in the last six years in accidents on the roads passing through or abutting the wildlife sanctuary.
There are three major roads with heavy traffic flow around the wildlife sanctuary – Surajkund-Faridabad road, Gurgaon-Faridabad road, and Mehrauli-Badarpur road, according to officials. Another road connecting Chhatarpur in South Delhi to Mangar village in Faridabad cuts through the sanctuary.
The forest department had shifted a couple of deer from the DGC to the wildlife sanctuary in a meticulously planned operation in April, but the intense heat impeded the transfer of the rest of the deer.
The deer need a natural environment with minimal human interference, officials said, adding the transfer will improve the prey base for the leopards in the Asola sanctuary.
Between 2010 and 2019, the Rajasthan Forest Department also relocated several sambar deer from the Delhi Golf Club to Ranthambore National Park’s buffer areas.
The wildlife sanctuary covers a 32.71sqkm area on the Southern Delhi Ridge of Aravalli hill range at Delhi-Haryana border.
It is part of the Northern Aravalli leopard wildlife corridor, which extends from the Sariska National Park in Rajasthan to Delhi Ridge. PTI GVS VN VN
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