New Delhi, May 30 (PTI) The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) will assess the impact of nearby human habitations on the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary, which is witnessing an increase in wildlife population, officials have said.

The assessment will be part of a study to ascertain the possible effects of the dumping of inert civic waste in the abandoned Bhatti mines, they said.

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The erstwhile South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) had in 2020 moved a proposal to use four 30-metre-deep pits measuring 477 acres for dumping of inert waste as they run out of space to store millions of tonnes of inert material generated in the city.

The Ridge Management Board, a high-powered body mandated to protect the Delhi Ridge, considered the lungs of the capital, had set up a five-member panel in March last year to examine the proposal.

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In its meeting held on July 29 last year, the panel had suggested that a study be conducted on the likely impact of dumping of inert material on the flora and fauna of the region.

The WII recently submitted a proposal to conduct a multidisciplinary study in the Asola Sanctuary to "collect baseline information on soil and groundwater, and flora, fauna and herpetofauna (lizards, snakes, turtles and tortoises) in the mined out pits".

The study will "identify and evaluate the cultural impact of nearby villages on the wildlife sanctuary", the WII said.

"The tremendous biotic pressure threatens the existence of the flora and fauna in the sanctuary ... (which is) surrounded by human habitations on the northern periphery (Sangam Vihar) and also in the middle (Sanjay Nagar)," it said.

Activities such as poaching, cattle grazing, fuelwood collection and lopping result in high forest degradation, the institute said.

The WII will also assess vegetation composition and structure in the abandoned mines and identify critical habitats based on biodiversity values, according to the proposal.

Earlier, officials had said the proposal to dump the inert civic waste in the mines was likely to be rejected as majority of the members in the panel had opposed it on the ground that the area has over the decades become an ecologically-sensitive water recharge zone and habitat of variety of flora and fauna, including leopards.

The inert material, bio-remediated from solid waste dumps, will have adverse impact on the ground water, the panel members had reportedly said.

The city government had notified the mines as a wildlife sanctuary in 1991.

Forest officials said the pits are home to threatened species, including a family of leopards. Their nature has completely changed since 1994. A wide range of animals and plant species are found in and around those mine pits.

In 1994, too, the MCD had requested the city government to allow it to use the Bhatti mines for development of solid waste management facilities.

The forest department and the National Green Tribunal had rejected that demand.

Mining operations at Bhatti mines, spread over 2,166 acres, were stopped around 35 years ago.

According to the directions issued by the NGT in 2019, the municipal corporations are undertaking biomining of the legacy waste at the Okhla, Bhalswa and Ghazipur landfill sites which is expected to generate 200 lakh metric tonnes of inert waste.

Biomining separates waste into four categories -- construction and demolition waste, metals, plastic and rags, and soil and pebbles.

While other components are sent to recycling units, soil needs to be dumped elsewhere.

(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)