SAVING THE LAST LUNG

Urban forests provide a range of valuable ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration, improved air and water quality, and reduced noise pollution

- Lekha Rattanani

“Dolka baadh,” Jaipur’s naturally grown forest reserve of some 105 acres that has taken root and thrived over the last three decades or thereabouts is the focus of a new battle that is receiving national attention.

The fate of the pink city’s last green lung now lies between the rising crescendo of a movement trying to protect it and bulldozers determined to flatten it for structures that will include a mall, a fintech park and residential buildings.

The structures are part of a large-scale commercial project that is essential for economic growth and job creation, argues the State represented by the Rajasthan Industrial Development and Investment Corporation (RIICO). Opponents say these structures can be put up elsewhere and should not remove or in any manner disturb the forest that is home to 2,400 trees, over 80 bird species (some of them endangered, many migratory), and native wildlife including nilgai, porcupine, mongoose, snakes, peacocks and a wide variety of unusual butterflies.