Ridge body to discuss Metro and RRTS projects on March 5
Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai approved the appointment of independent members to the board, Sohail Madan, the Delhi centre manager of the Bombay Natural History Society and Vivek Menon, chief executive officer of Wildlife Trust of India, last week.
After a wait of nearly two years, the Ridge Management Board (RMB) is set to meet on March 5, with its newly appointed independent members to decide important infrastructure projects that are likely to impact the city’s green lungs.
Delhi environment minister Gopal Rai approved the appointment of independent members to the board, Sohail Madan, the Delhi centre manager of the Bombay Natural History Society and Vivek Menon, chief executive officer of Wildlife Trust of India, last week.
Senior officials of the forest department confirmed on Monday that the RMB, along with these newly appointed members, is scheduled to meet on March 5 to discuss important projects such as the approval of the Aerocity-Tughlakabad corridor of the Delhi Metro’s phase-4 project, Regional Rapid Transit System’s (RRTS) Delhi-Gurugram-Rewari-Alwar corridor, and the construction of a wild bird rescue centre at Rajokri.
Since the tenure of the last board, which had Sunita Narain, director-general of environment NGO Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) and Vimlendu Jha, executive director of NGO Swechha, as independent members expired in March 2019, these projects have been pending approval.
“The agenda for the discussion of around 14 projects have been pending for over a year. That will be the priority in this meeting,” said a senior forest department official.
The RMB, a body formed in 1995 on the directions of the apex court, to preserve the Ridge, scheduled a meeting for September 18 last year to discuss these 14 projects. However, the meeting was postponed after former independent members refused to attend the meeting as “special invitees”.