On 21 Oct, the Supreme Court extended its stay on tree-felling for the Bijwasan rail terminal in Delhi’s Dwarka. The next hearing will be on 13 Dec. Citizen activists have been leading the struggle to protect this contested “deemed forest.”

The halt on tree felling was in response to a plea filed by a 23-year-old activist, Naveen Solanki, who commissioned an independent survey, which revealed that the subject land had over 25,000 trees, thus qualifying it for “deemed forest” status.

The SC’s stay order was a huge win, as in February this year, the National Green Tribunal had dismissed another plea to protect the trees. The NGT ruled that based on government records, the land was not classified as a forest.

Spanning 110.07 hectares, the rail redevelopment project is being built by merging two small neighbouring rail stations, Bijwasan and Shahabad Mohammadpur. At least 990 trees have been cut in the process.

Environmentalists and residents had opposed the NGT’s decision and argued that facts were misrepresented to the NGT. According to court documents, the NGT had considered a figure based on an arbitrary “survey conducted by a failed bidder” for the merging project, which calculated the total number of trees in the area at just 1,100.

The independent survey, carried out in June, showed that there are an estimated 25,000 trees in the forest area, which is roughly 120 acres. This translates to more than 100 trees per acre, thus fulfilling the conditions of “deemed forest.”

Solanki has been leading the fight to protect this land since 2022, when he first witnessed tree-felling. Despite numerous complaints by Solanki and concerned citizens, rail authorities continued to cut trees—railways was eventually fined Rs 5.93 crore by the forest department for not taking prior permission to fell trees.

Despite the SC order, the rail authorities have not backed down and are still clearing the area that reportedly houses 65 bird species and 50 Nilgai, wild rabbits, jungle cats, and Indian lizards.

Dwarka residents claim that clearing this forest, which acts as an absorber of emissions from the nearby Indira Gandhi International Airport, could worsen air pollution and heatwaves in Delhi, which is already struggling with extreme weather.