Below we review our major campaigns till now.
 
Public Interest Litigations

1995 PIL:   In the Delhi High Court, by the ‘Citizens for the Preservation of the Lakes and Quarries Wilderness (CPQLW), against the illegal building of a road by the DDA( Delhi Development Authority) on a protected area, the 6.4 sq km Vasant Kunj Mahipalpur ridge. The road was stopped by the court.

1996 Elephant Corridor PIL:  In the Supreme Court by Vikram Soni against Sterling Resorts for building on a critical The 0.6 KM  elephant corridor at Kaladhugi ( near the Corbett Museum). Immediate stay ordered

1996 PIL:  In the Supreme Court, by CPQLW, against the International Hotels complex in which 13 luxury hotels were to be built on the same ridge. In response to the case the Supreme Court created India’s first Urban Environmental Legislation with the formation of the Environmental Impact Assessment Authority ( EIAA ), to  review the environmental status of this and all other big projects in the National Capital Territory before giving any clearance. This ridge was found to be a three way protected area

1. As an Arravalli Ridge which is protected in all Master plans of Delhi. The entire area of 6.4 sq km was demarcated by the Geological Survey of India and found to be Arravalli ridge.
2. It was declared a de facto forest by the Apex Environmental Authority (EPCA) with no non forest activity permitted.
3. The whole area was found to be  very important pure water recharge area  and notified by the CWGA.

            The Supreme Court judgment prohibited all building in the area.

2004 PIL in Supreme Court by CPQLW and RBA:  Strangely, in violation of the above ruling, the DDA and the Army started building again in this totally protected area. CPQLW files a PIL with the CEC, as a Forest case - that this is a forest area where building is illegal. CEC (Central Empowered Committee) is a Supreme Court appointed body to look into violations of Forest Act.  The CEC asked the Army and DDA to stop construction. No observance.  Ridge Bachao Andolan also files for a stay on the illegal construction as it is without mandatory environmental clearances. Construction is stayed in May 2006.  The MOEF and the Supreme Court accept that this is a protected ridge forest area where no construction should have been done, and that too, without clearances. But in November 2006 in an enigmatic verdict they reserve judgement and allow constructions stating since some construction has already been done ‘we have no alternative but to compromise with the de facto situation.’ A Rs 5 lakh fine is levied when the commercial value of the 25 hectare site is Rs 25000 crores.
Only 2.23 sq km of the area of 6.4 sq km has been protected as the Arravali Bio- diversity park

ALL THIS IS DOCUMENTED IN THE VIDEO ON THE RIDGE

2005 PIL in the High Court of Delhi:  Filed for protection of the ridge, inspite of being a water notified   as a Community Ground Water Reserve. Though extraction of water is strictly not permitted by the CGWA, there is no jurisdiction over construction. So construction goes on and destroys this valuable resource. Asked for sensible legislation to stop this.
Still in court after 3 years.

Movements and Protests
CPQLW: Citizen’s for the Preservation of the Lakes and Quarries Wilderness
Worked on protecting the ridge for 12 years  - now apart of Natural Heritage First.

RBA:  Ridge Bachao Andolan
A confederation of various NGOs with Diwan Singh as its coordinator.
Many of its members are now apart of Natural Heritage First, and continue to work for saving the ridge forest.

 In January 2006 we ( CPQLW and RBA) organized a human chain protest against building on this ridge with many schools and resident welfare associations, NGO’s ( particularly FORCE and TAPAS), artists, Delhi IIT students and citizens. It was the largest environmental protest in Delhi ( see Ridge film).

YJA: Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan
For the last one and a half years, we have been working to preserve the Yamuna and its floodplains. We have been working for this cause independently as well as under the banner of Yamuna Jiye Abhiyan, which is a confederation of various NGOs  as  its founding members.

Yamuna Satyagraha
Natural Heritage  First invited Rajender Singh, the well known Magasaysay awardee to join us in the campaign to save the Yamuna floodplains. On, August 1, 2007, together with many environmental organizations and resident groups and Rajender Singh, we launched Yamuna Satyagraha, a Gandhian protest.
The Satyagraha is still continuing, with a large number of local farmers having taken charge of it. This is one the longest  protests in the city of Delhi.

Yamuna Floodplains Scheme
A non invasive scheme to ‘Preserve and Use’ the Yamuna floodplains as a natural water storage that  can store and recharge, from monsoon discharge, the equivalent  of 2/3 of Delhi’s water supply worth over $ 2 billion each year. The scheme,  conceived by Dr. Soni has received a good response from the Prime Minister’s Committee on the Yamuna, which adopted it.
The Lt. Governor, head of this committee, appointed CGWB to study this scheme. Acknowledging the merits of this scheme,  the Yamuna River Development Authority ( YRDA),after a thorough evaluation , directed a moratorium( November 2007) on further construction on the floodplains, as announced by the Lt. Governor at the last meeting ( Sept 23 2008)of the Technical Advisory Group of the Yamuna Committee. Dr. Vikram Soni and Diwan Singh are members of TAG alongwith other expert agencies like CGWB, NIH  and DJB

Talks / Presentations 
At many colleges and schools (See Power Points in Visual section)
India International Centre
India Habitat Centre
Jawahar Lal Nehru University
 Delhi University
And at  international venues

Articles
Various environmental, scientific, planning and popular articles have been written. Many of them have in published in reputed journals and papers. (To see – go to Articles in Knowledge section)

Videos
A  film on value of Yamuna Flood plains and another on protection of Ridge Forest in Delhi. (To see- go to films in Visual section)

Press Coverage
The issues raised have enjoyed  considerable media attention and continue to do so.
 (To see- go to Press coverage in Activities section.)