Forest Conservator asks Okhla officers to submit detailed report on shrine establishment

NOIDA: The conservator of forests has demanded a detailed explanation from the Okhla Bird Sanctuary officers on how a shrine came to be established within the eco-sensitive zone.

Conservator (Meerut) SK Awasthi had on Tuesday said that any kind of temple-building activity would tantamount to giving ‘new rights’ to local residents of Okhla and would not be permitted.

Awasthi communicated to TOI today that he has asked for a detailed report on how locals entered the sanctuary and established a shrine.


Explaining that the incident has “taken him by surprise”, Forest Ranger at Okhla Bird Sanctuary IC Singh said, “For the first time even during my tenure, something like this has taken place. The priest has been getting hostile and forcing his way in, in the name of rituals. We do not know this man, or who is sending him into the sanctuary.”

According to the conservator, the locals at any sanctuary often have certain ‘old rights’ related to practices that they were used to doing in the area prior to the creation of the sanctuary, but a temple construction is definitely a ‘new right’ and shall be prevented.

Presently, a Shiv Lingam stands established on a mound of concrete near the ancient crematorium at the sanctuary, which is well within 100 metres of the core sanctuary marshes. This is the eco-sensitive zone where no construction, building, mining, digging is permitted.

“The activities have now been stalled at this level. If locals try to force their way into the sanctuary or try to build any structure over and above what they have done, we will ask the city police to intervene,” IC Singh said.