This is a relatively short article and it is relevant to many urban forests that are attempted to be developed as parks – even though it is written in the context of one urban forest – which is the Lado Sarai Forest.
Lado Sarai Forest – also labelled on boards as “Lado Sarai Indian Garden” – and this article intendes to sensitise the reader about the current clearing of bushes and forest; and it’s potentially harmful impact.
The place in question is the urban-forest labelled as “DDA Indian Garden Park” – which as per signboards spans around 110 acres.
The “DDA Indian Garden Park” is adjacent to 2 children’s parks- one next to it of around 10 acres and one accross the road of another 6 acres – which is around 16 acres cut from the same wilderness since many years. The park adjoining the wilderness is across the road from the MB-road gate of Saket Metro Station & parking lot of Saket Metro station.
The children’s park in question already has ample grassy space and walking tracks as well as open-air gym – and many of us who walk through the forest tracks also walk through the above mentioned park.
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In Lado Sarai Forest (also known as DDA Indian Garden Lado Sarai)– all the bushes and vegetation are being ruthlessly and mercilessly cut.
Infact — wherever the bushes are being cut – they are levelling land – as if in preparation for planting grass (which I assume will over time be maintained to ensure that no bushes can grow there again).
They are also levelling the area – by cutting down hillocks — and by filling dirt in the depressions.
Please understand – that if a forest is removed – the animals will have nowhere to go and will not be able to forage for food nor have place to make their nests or rear their young.
If apart from trees — there are bushes and shrubs — then lizards, chamelions, mice, rats and various other rodents can live, breed and roam.
When the ground is covered with bushes, shrubs and undergrowth rather than well manicured grass – then even many many species of insects can also breed, procreate and exist.
There are small and big reptiles; as well as insects serve as food for big and small birds, mammals and other creatures; and the diversity of landforms (like hillocks, depressions, clearings and rocky areas covered with bushes) creates an ecosystem where Peacock, Neelgai, Jackals, Mongoose, monitor lizards, wild-hares, rats, mice, shrew, monkeys and even animals you may not often hear of like porcupines and yellow throated martens can mate and procreate — which I explain below.
Almost everyone has seen peacocks there – and some people have seen mongooses also; but very seldom does one see chamelions or lizards which one sees even in park sometimes- because these for most part live under bushes and on the ground eating insects, while sheltered by the undergrowth. It’s only in winters that they sometimes come out to sun themselves – but when these do come out to sun themselves on rocks or on remnants of historical structures – we see not just chamelions, but also sometimes monitor lizards – monitor lizards that can be 3 feet long or even sometimes up to 5 feet long from tip of nose to tail. And even these sometimes would come out in winters to sun themselves on rocks or on outcrops of walls.
There are also shrews (छछूंदर in hindi) – which are the same size as house-mice and by appearance seem to occupy a similar ecological niche– but in reality they are mostly carnivorous and their diet is mostly insects and even small birds and mammals like mice – compared to mice which are omnivorous but their diet is more towards grains and even vegetables and dont hunt insects or small birds and mammals as actively as mice. Infact shrews are among the few mammals which carry poison – so when they bite an insect or a baby mouse or a small bird – the poison too takes effect. So effective a hunter is the shrew that in western countries it is a known fact that the shrew can often kill even a hen or chicken – by biting it’s tendons.
If you level the undulating land; and aggressively cut all bushes to replace with manicured grass and selectively planted trees— then the amount of biomass available above-mentioned animals, birds, reptiles, insects to feed and live is drastically reduced.
They say a peacock or mongoose eats snakes— but in reality apart from snakes a large part of a peacock or mongoose’s diet includes small and big reptiles– like lizards and chameleons; and rodents and the young of rodents– like rats; field-mice; shrews and more.
This is what is happening right now in Lado Sarai forest — and this has been happening since a lot of time now in Sanjay Van— that large areas are being aggressively cleared.
In fact in Sanjay Van — many areas have been totally cleared or so thoroughly cleared — that now they are focussing on other areas to clear.
As a first step, animals will start venturing outside the forest— like the Neelgai which started visiting garbage dumps in Geetanjali enclave to forage for food.
Once while walking through Sanjay Van — we came to an area where the grass around rocks had been expanded in recent weeks– and saw a unique bird with a unique song– and one of the ladies mentioned how that bird or birds similar to that bird had been coming to a tree next to her window in saket— and had been visible since just the last 1 month– and she had never seen that bird before in her life.
There will also be cases like Jackals from the Qila Rai Pithora Park (next to Qutab golf course) – foraging for food in garbage dumps of Golf View apartments saket– and of cases of jackals and baby jackals having large chunks of their flesh and fur ripped by razor sharp wires or pregnant jackal being killed by car.
The next step is of animals trying to create homes outside the forest– like a kingfisher trying to make a home in a tree in Saket; or a Peacock Pair laying eggs on a green fibre-glass roof of a covered area of a DDA flat– and the lady of the house getting the maid to just push the eggs off the edge with a broom and catch then in a dust-pan — (supposedly to keep them elsewhere) and the eggs breaking.
There are monkeys– who one would previously spot around Sanjay Van– who one would see every third or fourth day in Saket (I know because while walking my dog in sanjay van – I would see some monkeys that were identifiable due to scars or marks etc – and now we see those same monkey individuals and their group roaming in saket).
And there are instances of dogs in a residential colony barking all night– and chasing away a thin and strange looking dog– which was probably a jackal.
There are also instances of Neelgai not just foraging for food in areas outside their forest but even rearing their young outside– and baby neelgai getting hit by a vehicle– and maybe dying on the roadside.
Hence I request you to please take cognisance of the fact that this area is not a garden — to be redesigned nor a vacant area– but an area that has been a forest and a self sustaining ecosystem possibly since centuries.
If in the urge to make it a garden or park you cut the bushes and level the undulating lands — then just 1 or 2 years later– all the wildlife that lived– and which common people visiting the forest could occasionally glimpse– since decades— will vanish forever— some will be displaced and migrate— but most of the wild animals will just fight a losing battle and either starve or be crushed by vehicles— or remain on the run till they get chased around by humans or by stray dogs etc— and die a lonely death after exhausting themselves with the stress and fear of being chased by humans and dogs.
To give you an example — in Lado Sarai Wilderness, as kids in late 1980s we knew of a place where a king cobra used to live– and even in 2019 — while attending a rock-climbing training a local elderly villager told me in a mix of Hindi and Haryanvi be careful because in a particular hollow near a tree a cobra family (“shesh naag”) lives.
But today in same area bushes are being cleared — and grass is being planted— if that habitat is destroyed— then even 5 years later the cobras that have lived there since last 20 or 30 years will never be seen again.
With Jackals, Neelgai, mongoose and peacocks it is even more tricky; due to the following reasons:
(1) Jackals Live Underground – in burrows originally dug by other mammals– notably by rats or sometimes by mongoose families.
Many times jackals prefer a burrow who’s mouth is covered by vegetation.
Often a jackal’s burrow is exposed when bushes are cut– and when land is dug up to level it– jackal babies just get crushed underneath with no escape if the burrow collapses — especially if the burrow is deep and in loose soil– because parent jackals often aren’t strong enough at burrowing to be able to dig in and retrieve their babies.
(2) Neelgai – Neelgai is said to be among the largest antelope in Asia; and unlike in West Delhi ridge or North Delhi ridge, where they are almost totally wiped out – in South Delhi we are lucky to have several stretches where neelgai still survive.
Wherever there are neelgai – they often prefer to mate and form pairs for multiple seasons and raise young together as a pair– unlike cattle in which one bull can mate with multiple cows and unlike certain other species of antelope and deer where a dominant male can have multiple females.
Also, for Neelgai to be a viable breeding population — it is often helpful for there to be 3 or 4 viable groups moving around the area.
Though females and males mate mostly monogamously — the presence of dominant males when there is a pair of juvenile neelgai seems to affect things.
Can’t authoritatively explain why – but the fact is that younger, physically less strong neelgai seem to have different mating and courtship strategies than the older, larger and dominant ones – and after they find a mate, the pairs roam, graze and feed in areas other than where the dominant male and his partner(s) roam.
And that’s why fencing off areas like peacock rocks in Sanjay Van with wire-mesh and – and carpetting them with manicured grass — makes it very difficult or even impossible for juvenile, non dominant neelgai to go to high spots and scan for a mate.
Removing the bushes and scrub-vegetation and shrubery also makes it very very difficult to young juvenile neelgai to screen themselves from passing humans or for pregnant neelgai mothers or neelgai mothers – who are often highly nervous to sit.
When you are cutting away all the bushes – and replacing them with grass — like in Sanjay Van now ongoing since long time; and now aggressively doing that in Lado Sarai jungle also— then the numbers of Neelgai calves born and growing to a reproductive age will greatly reduce– and ultimately the numbers of Neelgai will greatly decline.
And that decline is already visible.
There are villagers who openly speculate that maybe some people are killing or stealing Neelgai causing their numbers to decrease. But the reality is much more nuanced— that if the habitat is greatly decreased; and fragmented by clearing of bushes; putting up of walls (like in parts of lado sarai forest for “butterfly garden”) and replacing bushes with manicured grass; then neelgai wont be able to form breeding pairs. Why ? Because even though neelgai most often mate as breeding pairs – then also unlike the dominant males who sniff for females on the ground, the juvenile neelgais both male and female have a slightlky different mating strategy and will stand watching from high places or graze in slightly open places looking for a mate – and apart from the herd in which they are born – juvenile neelgais will often stake out a different section of forest or bush-land where they will graze and roam with their partner. If the bushes are replaced by grass and natural barriers cleared or flattened out in some parts of the forest while walls are built in other parts – the younger neelgais of reproductive age will not have enough territory to roam, indulge in courtship or socialise or roam with their young and find sufficient food.
(3) Mongoose:
Everyone knows and talks of how mongoose eats snakes – and of snake charmers who showcase mongoose fighting snake.
However, beyond snakes, mongooses get their food from lizards and chameleons and from insects and small reptiles like skinks ( called “saanp ki mausi” in hindi – and there are 2 varieties of skinks “red eyed skink” and “matchstick skink”) as well as insects like crickets and also shrews and mice and birds, young of birds and eggs of birds.
If many bushes are cleared – the mongooses no longer have food for themselves or for their young ones.
(4) Monitor Lizards – also called “Bengal Monitors”
There are 4 or 5 feet long monitor lizards we have seen in the lado sarai forest apart from smaller individuals.
Mostly have seen from distance in winters when monitor lizards lie on top of rocks or walls inaccessible to humans or when disturbed they rush past us – out of their hiding places.
As a nearby resident, I and others who know the forest have been seeing these creatures and forest since childhood in late 1980s – over 30 or 35 years ago.
But today and in recent past, at the rate the forest bushes are being cleared and land levelled to make space for grass – where always in memory there was forest– means that even in the next few months– some areas that were always covered by forest will be lost forever to make way for a park.
I would like to see children who come here even 30 years later or adults who come here years later to see and enjoy the forest. But the way things are being done– it will be an ill-advised park that will be forever a headache to maintain — because in arid climate and on this kind of soil, grass and temperate bushes and flowers cannot survive or flourish the way current thorn bushes can flourish.
So, it seems that even 5 years from today – the forest will no longer remain – unless some things are done to ensure that the existence of the bushes and thorny shrubs which cover the dunes and hillocks is acknowledged and any effort that is done, respects the existence of this place as a bushy thorn forest in an arid climate rather than as a park or as idle land that needs to be made a park.