Drive against kikar to start in July from central ridge

THE PILOT PROJECT WILL TARGET AN AREA OF AROUND 100 HECTARES IN THE CENTRAL RIDGE BETWEEN SP MARG AND VANDE MATARAM MARG

NEWDELHI: The state environment and forest department has finally decided to launch its war against the vilayti kikar from the July 2018, when the monsoon sets in.

The pilot project will target an area of around 100 hectares in the central ridge between SP Marg and Vande Mataram Marg. The central ridge sprawls over 864 hecatres, out of which around 423 hectares is with the state forest department. The project would be completed by March 2019.

“While the project would be completed within the next one year, it would take at least five years for the indigenous plants to grow and eliminate the vilayti kikar naturally. It would take at least 10–12 years to replace the vilayti kikar from the entire central ridge,” said CR Babu, professor emeritus at the Centre for Environmental Management of Degraded Ecosystems in Delhi University, who is helping the government in this project.

The modus operandi would be the same as Babu and his team had demonstrated earlier in the Yamuna Biodiversity Park. The vilayti kikar trees will be trimmed and open spaces created for planting of local species underneath them. Once the planted seedlings establish then vilayti kikar trees will be gradually eliminated.

The vilayti kikar (Prosopis julifora) was brought to Delhi from Mexico by the British more than a century ago. The exotic plant became invasive and wiped out most of the native plants and along with it the animals, which once used to roam in the ridges. It had also wreaked havoc on city’s groundwater. The decision was taken on Friday in a meeting held by the state environment and for- est minister Imran Hussain. The minister, however, was not available for his comments.

“The Ridge Management Board agreed to the proposal and tentative expenditure of Rs 12.21 crore to be borne from RMB fund for eradication of vilayati kikar over a period of five years and restoration of Central Ridge area. The first phase of execution will start in July, 2018 and will be completed by March, 2019,” stated a release issued by the government. While the government had set aside Rs 50 lakhs it its 2017 - 2018 budget to eliminate the vilayti kikar, in the 2018 - 2019 budget the government reiterated that it would run a ‘Make Delhi Kikar free’ campaign. The government had also consulted the Forest Research Institute.

“We are planning to create forest communities that were originally found in the ridge including a tropical thorn forest, moist deciduous forest and mixed dry deciduous forest. For this we will take the help of plan communities such as Acacia, Boswelli and Butea among others,” said Babu.