Digital demarcation of deemed forests begins

The Delhi government has identified and is in the process of digitally demarcating over 2,000 hectares of land and over 450km of roads and drains as deemed forests, the state forest department said in an affidavit submitted to the Delhi high court last month.

- Jasjeev Gandhiok

Environmental activists welcomed the move to demarcate deemed forests, but said it should have been taken earlier, and urged forest officials to regularly carry out such exercises.

A deemed forest is not a notified or a reserve forest, but is considered a forest. The concept came into existence following a Supreme Court judgement in 1996 (TN Godavarman vs Union of India). Different states have different definitions for deemed forest, with Delhi defining it as any area over 2.5 acres and having over 100 trees per acre. Similarly, 1km stretches of roads and drains with the same density are considered deemed forests.