New Delhi, Mar 5 (PTI) The Ridge Management Board, a high-powered body tasked with protecting the Delhi Ridge, on Friday approved setting up of a panel to examine the SDMC's proposal to dump inert waste from landfill sites into the abandoned Asola Bhati mines, an ecologically-sensitive water recharge zone.

The committee will have members from the South Delhi Municipal Corporation and the forest department.

"The panel will be asked to study the proposal and submit its recommendations within one month," a forest department official said.

The department will go through the recommendations and submit them to the Supreme Court-constituted Central Empowered Committee (CEC).

Though the proposal to dump the inert waste, mined from the Bhalswa, Ghazipur and Okhla landfill sites, is not a new idea, this is "perhaps the first time that such a committee has been constituted on this issue", he said.

The demand was rejected by the forest department and the National Green Tribunal (NGT) in the past.

The mining operations at Bhatti were stopped 35-40 years ago and since then the pits are lying abandoned.

The ecologically-sensitive area is considered "groundwater recharge system" for Delhi and falls within Asola wildlife sanctuary.

Experts have repeatedly opposed the idea, arguing that the waste containing toxic heavy metals like lead, arsenic and mercury will contaminate the groundwater.

The Board also approved the construction of a 3.65-kilometer-long underground stretch of the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor through Aravalli Biodiversity Park.

Around 145 trees are proposed to be felled during the construction of this stretch, according to an official.

The RMB also gave its nod to setting up a wild animal rescue centre in Rajokri, a first such facility in the national capital. 

The rescue centre will come up over 1.24 acre land, which also has a monkey rescue centre lying abandoned.  

Three rapid response teams of five members each will also be constituted to rescue stranded animals and rehabilitate them in the Rajokri facility, officials said. 

The Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority has sanctioned funds for these purposes.

The construction of a campus of Indian Institute of Foreign Trade at Maidangarhi village, and that of World Class Skill Centre and Delhi Skill University at Jaunapur village has also been approved.

Approval of the Supreme Court through the CEC is required for using the Ridge land for any other purposes.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)