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Information on Delhi Land

¤ The Ridge

Till a few centuries ago, the Aravalli Hills (see The Land for details) which nudge Delhi from neighbouring Haryana and Rajasthan were a distinct and prominent part of the landscape reaching as far as the Yamuna. Today, the fragmented Ridge is all that remains of this once thickly vegetated range.

The Ridge pumps out most of the oxygen that keeps Delhi’s huge population alive. Patches of it remain near the University of Delhi in the north; stretch southward to Dhaula Kuan from Connaught Place in Central Delhi; spread along the cantonment area from South to West Delhi and also take in Mehrauli and Tughlaqabad. Most of plush, upmarket South Delhi came up at the expense of the Aravalli Hills and the entire city was left out on a limb, struggling to make do with its only lung.

The Ridge is made up of stratified russet sandstone and grey quartzite, which was rather cleverly used by Edwin Lutyens in the building of Imperial Delhi. In fact stone began to be quarried in the Delhi Aravallis as long ago as in the 10^th century. That’s when the degradation of the Aravallis began, effectively reducing them to shallow ridges and rolling stretches. Agricultural necessity took its own toll by leveling the rocky terrain into fields.


¤ The Yamuna

Quiet flows the Yamuna but if you could listen to her hushed murmur, she would tell you a thousand tales of how Delhi was settled, destroyed and rebuilt and how Yamuna herself – once a sparklingly brilliant river – came to be so polluted. This lovely river, beloved of all the rulers of Delhi, rises from the mighty Himalayas (see The Land for details) and flows southward till it reaches Delhi via Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. From Delhi it meanders on to embrace India’s most sacred river, the Ganges. Hindus consider the confluence point of the two rivers, Prayag near Allahabad, a holy city. (Check Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh for details.) The entire course of the river is about 1,376 km.

Till about 350 years ago, when Shahjahanabad (see > History for details) was built, Yamuna followed a different course. It skirted the walls of the awesome Red Fort (see Sightseeing for details) surging happily into its moats to keep enemies away. Now the river is over one km to the east of the fort and the moat remains sadly empty. It seems as if the river wanted nothing to do with Delhi once the curtain fell on its Mughal patrons (see History for details).

The water of the river has been diverted to many canals to facilitate irrigation. The Eastern and Western Yamuna canals are fed from the river along the Uttar Pradesh-Haryana border and the Agra Canal is made richer at Delhi. Near Mathura the river turns southeastward and passes Agra, Firozabad and Etawah. Below Etawah it receives a number of southern tributaries, the largest of which are the Chambal, the Sindh, the Betwa, and the Ken. If you visit the Taj Mahal (see Agra in Uttar Pradesh for details) in summer you’ll find the majestic Yamuna reduced to a mere trickle thanks to the amount of water siphoned of to the canals.

In fact this is the major factor that has led to the large-scale pollution of the Yamuna. According to environmentalist Iqbal Malik, "All rivers are capable of healing themselves but only if they have the minimum required water flowing in them, The Yamuna has a flow of just five cusec whereas the minimum requirement is 353 cusec. When the flow is weak, algae, shrubs and other water plants that cure the river die. Today, what we have in the Yamuna are catfish which are found only in sewers, red worms which inhabit only filthy water and disease-causing bacteria." Apart from this, the floating population of the river also consists of fly-ash, plastic, hospital waste and parts of half-burnt bodies from Nigam Bodh Ghat (Delhi’s biggest cremation ground).

But all is not lost yet. Chances of rescuing the river are bright – other water systems around the world have been revived under worse conditions.


¤ The Yamuna Action Plan

A popular adage in India runs Der hai, andher nahin! which roughly means that justice may be delayed but is never denied or that things may move slowly but they eventually get done. The Yamuna Action Plan is a classic example of neglect reaching a critical point till the Delhi Government and the Central Pollution Control Board were forced to sit up and take notice. Launched in 1994 with a budget of Rs 340 crore, the Yamuna Action Plan, if executed carefully and dedicatedly, will surely get results. No deadline has yet been set for the project but here are some of its salient features:

Construction of 16 sewage-treatment plants to treat domestic sewage.
15 common-effluent plants to treat industry-effluents from the more than 1,000 industries in the city. Right now only six are operational.
Toilets for Delhi’s slums and squatter settlements which are responsible for 40% of the sewage.

10 cumec (cubic meter per second) of water to be released into the river. This is an order that has come straight from the Supreme Court and is not strictly a part of the Yamuna Action Plan. and neither is it as simple as it sounds. The estimated cost of this exercise alone is Rs 20,000 crore.

Blocking the sewage water flowing into the river, treating it and then releasing it into the Agra Canal for irrigation. In exchange the Yamuna would get 10 cumec of bathing-quality fresh water from Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.


¤ Climate & Seasons

The climate of Delhi isn’t much to write home about. When planning a trip remember that the city is best in winter and in its fleeting spring. About 160 kilometres south of the Himalayas Delhi feels every chilly blast that lashes the snowcapped mountains. While heat-oriented Delhiites find the winter a bit trying, foreigners seem to revel in temperatures ranging from 3*C to 21*C. The season is marked with light rainfall, frosty winds and an all-enveloping fog.

But the cold months of December-February soon give way to the balmy month of March. Birds sing out a full-throated welcome to Basant Bahar (the bloom of spring) as fresh grass and blossoms burst forth and trees sprout shiny new coats. Sometimes, when Delhiites are in luck, the spring gets an extra lease of life and tarries till mid-April.

Hot on its heels comes May which turns Delhi into a scalding charcoal tandoor (a large round clay oven). Thanks to its distance from the sea, Delhi bears the brunt of an extreme type of continental climate. The summer consequently is as hot as the winter is cold. The mercury, itself in danger of dehydration, soars to 47*C. One has to be carefully prepared before venturing out as heat strokes and dehydration are the order of the day. Violent dust storms and hot winds – locally dubbed loo – are part and parcel of the hot and dry Delhi summer.

The cruel onslaught of summer is cut short with the advent of the monsoon (moisture bearing winds) in early July. The monsoon, of course, is never known to have arrived when it is expected – it’s either late, early or whimsically decides to just skip Delhi. It provides the city much-needed succour. The parched ground, plants, animals and people greedily soak up the moisture for the next two months as the temperature dips down to a bearable 30-something. September though hot, is not dry but humid. In October the days become cooler and with November Delhi is very much in the arms of winter again.

¤ Delhi's Greenery

Bursting at the seams with human population (and all attendant hazards), it is Delhi’s plant life that keeps the city worth living in. Most Delhiites love greenery and fortunately so did the planner of New Delhi, Sir Edwin Lutyens. Delhi, as we have said before, is one of the greenest capitals in the world. Now let’s see what keeps it so.

The Ridge and whatever else remains of the Aravalli range is dotted with thorny trees like the keekar (a prickly tree that keeps its leaves all through the year and has yellow flowers) and acacias. In fact Delhi’s natural cover can best be described as thorny scrub. The British with characteristic foresight began planting drought-resistant trees in the 19th century. Thanks to them the Ridge has its share of neem (margosa or Azadirachta indica) and palas (Flame of the Forest or Butea monosperma) trees. During the monsoon the Ridge is a riot of shrubs, herbs and tall wild grass. It was declared a Reserved Forest as long ago as in 1878.

The shisham tree (Dalbergia sissoo) which yields a dark brown and durable timber commonly grows in the plain areas of the capital. The Yamuna of course abounds in typical riverine vegetation consisting of weeds and grass along its banks. This is what’s left of Delhi’s natural cover.


¤ Exquisite Gardens of Delhi

Fortunately, however, man has not been idle. Delhi boasts of some of the most beautiful gardens and parks in the country. It all began with the Mughals who were seriously garden-minded – wherever they went they laid out fabulous gardens. To Delhi they gave Qudsia Bagh, Roshanara Garden, Shalimar Bagh and Karol Bagh.

The British, who took charge of Delhi after unceremoniously bundling out the Mughals, were nature lovers too. Edwin Lutyens, the architect of New Delhi, ordered trees to be planted along the proposed routes even before the actual construction of the roads began. He chose to plant slow-growing but massive, long-living trees like banyans, neems, jamuns (Syzygium cumini, a tree with an edible grapelike fruit), mango, pipals and tamarinds which blocked out the harsh Indian sun.

The Green Brigade that took over the task of making gardens after Independence was the Central Public Works Department. But Indian town planners, eager to get quick results, planted fast-growing and showy flowering trees like the amaltas (Indian laburnum) and gulmohar (a large tree with tiny leaves and reddish-orange flowers) which give neither fruit nor shade. Delhi soon came to have many more green oases like the Lodi garden, the area around the Purana Qila, the National Zoological Park, the Delhi Golf Club, the Deer Park, the Nehru Park, the Buddha Jayanti Park and the Mahavir Jayanti Park.

and this is not all. The numerous roundabouts that lie at the centre of most road intersections are islands of greenery and a veritable feast for the eyes when thick with flowers in March. These flowering plants include a large number of multicoloured seasonals: chrysanthemums, phlox, violas, and verbenas, larkspur, dogflowers, pansies, dahlias, gladiola, tuberose, sweetpeas, roses and many more.

The animal life of the National Capital Region, like its plant life, is quite diverse. Among carnivorous animals are leopards, hyenas, foxes, wolves, and jackals, which inhabit the jungles, low forests, and hilly ridges. In some places along the banks of the Yamuna, wild boars are found. Monkeys and cows are a pretty common sight since both are deemed sacred by the Hindus and therefore allowed to roam unmolested. Bird life thanks to the city’s parks and gardens is profuse and includes partridge (gray and black), pigeons (black and blue), parrots, and bush quail. Peafowl are numerous on the hilly ridges. The Yamuna abounds in fish, and an occasional crocodile may be found too.


¤ The City Plan

Delhi- Not Exactly a Well Planned City :

The layout of Delhi is not a well-planned or well-executed whole. The reason, is that, Delhi was built piecemeal by successive rulers. The Delhi of today is a sum total of all the nine Delhis that have gone up since 1450BC and therefore seems very hap-hazardly laid out. When India became free the capital boasted of two living historic cities: Shahjahanabad (also called Old Delhi) and New Delhi. Shahjahanabad was built by the Mughal Emperor Shahjahan and New Delhi was raised by the British.


¤ The Layout of Old Delhi

The street pattern of Old Delhi reflects the older requirements of defense, with a few transverse streets leading from one major gate to another. Occasionally a through street from a subsidiary gate leads to the main axes. Most of the streets, however, tend to be irregular in direction, length, and width and are suitable only for pedestrian traffic. The pattern as a whole consists of a confusing mixture of narrow and winding streets, alleys, and bylanes leading to residences and commercial areas. These roads are definitely at odds with the demands of a modern national capital. Did you know that Delhi has more cars than the three metros Mumbai, Calcutta and Chennai put together?


¤ The New Delhi

In sharp contrast to Old Delhi, the Civil Lines (residential areas originally built by the British for senior officers) in the north and New Delhi in the south present an aspect of relative openness, characterized by green grass and trees, order, and quiet. Wide avenues characterized the New Delhi plan with trees in double rows on either side, creating vistas and connecting various points of interest. Almost every major road has a specific focal point closing the vista so that no avenue is lost in the horizon.

Despite this wonderful model of sensible and aesthetic town-planning left behind by the British, the CPWD could not achieve much on its own. Plots of land were sold indiscriminately, no thought was given to architecture, shoddy roads and flyovers came up quickly, land grabbing became rabid and Delhi, like spilt water, seeped in every direction submerging parts of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. Today it stretches from Rohini in the north to Gurgaon in the south and Ghaziabad in the east to Uttam Nagar in the west. Apart from a few, well-maintained sections in the city, Delhi is on the fast track to disaster with its zillion problems: overpopulation, inadequate housing and sanitation, water and electricity shortage, traffic congestion, pollution, beggary and crime.


¤ Land Use

The Delhi Development Authority’s 20-year master plan implemented from 1962-81 broadly divided up the city on the basis of public, semipublic and residential use of land. Public and semipublic land use was concentrated in the Central Secretariat area of New Delhi, the Old Secretariat area in the Civil Lines, Indraprastha Estate, the CGO complex and RK Puram (an office-cum-residence complex).

Small manufacturing units have sprung up in almost every part of Old Delhi, but the main industrial areas are along Najafgarh Road in the west and on Mathura Road in the south, where a large planned industrial estate, Okhla, has been established. Areas for commercial land use are confined mainly to Chandni Chowk and Khari Baoli (both in the north), the Sadar Bazaar of Old Delhi, the Ajmal Khan Road of Karol Bagh in western Delhi, and the Connaught Place area of New Delhi. A number of district and local shopping centres have also developed in other localities.

The University of Delhi, India’s most prestigious university, is located in the north, where a number of educational institutions for college education and for higher studies are located. It attracts students from all over the world and is hotbed of educational, research and cultural activity. Its southern campus is located near Dhaula Kuan. Another educational complex that includes Jawaharlal Nehru University, the Indian Institute of Technology, and other institutions has been developed in southern Delhi.