63-acre biodiversity park in Gzb: New bids open next week

The Ghaziabad municipal corporation has again floated tender for the 63-acre biodiversity park proposed at City Forest near Grand Trunk Road. Officials said that only one firm participated in the previous bid, resulting in releasing the bid for the second time.

The project is estimated to cost around ₹17.5 crore and will be funded under the Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) 2.0 scheme. Uttar Pradesh government had earlier this year approved the project.

The new bids will open on December 5. “The tender floated for the project in October had only one participant, so we have re-tendered and are waiting for more bidders. We expect that the re-tendering will attract more bidders,” Vikramaditya Malik, municipal commissioner, said.

The city forest is also marked as a forest area under the Master Plan 2021.

However, activist and former Raj Nagar councillor Rajendra Tyagi warned that he will move high court if the project goes through and the corporation tries to convert the city forest to a park. “We demand restoration of the city forest area like it was prior to 2008 and had dense tree cover which later got destroyed due to garbage burning and dumping besides overflowing drain passing through the city forest. The agencies cannot change the nature of the area to a park. If this happens, we will move into contempt against the corporation as the court has already ordered for maintaining of status quo,” Tyagi said.

The Ghaziabad Development Authority in 2012 had planned to develop a golf course in the green area and Tyagi had moved Allahabad high court with his PIL, following which the court directed a status quo in the area.

The petition sought court’s intervention in restoring the city forest area which spreads over 110 acres. In 2008, hundreds of trees in the forest area were destroyed after sewage overflowed from a major city drain passing through the green area.

In October 2012, the high court directed that a cemented canal be constructed to channel the sewage overflow and an STP be constructed so that Hindon river is not polluted due to the untreated drain.

In July this year, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change sought an action taken report from the corporation about the alleged degradation at the city forest. This was on a complaint filed by Tyagi.

As part of the project, the corporation has proposed development of 22 different activities, which include urban forest, mounds, medicinal garden, herbal garden, fish pond, wetlands, lotus pond, floating fountain, water treatment plant, compost unit, butterfly garden, amphitheatre, cacterium, car parking, food counters, etc., among others.