Delhi Ridge

[2][3] The Delhi Ridge consists of quartzite rocks and extends from the southeast at Tughlaqabad, near the Bhatti mines, branching out in places and tapering off in the north near Wazirabad on the west bank of the Yamuna River,[4] spanning approximately 35 kilometres.

[5] The Ridge acts as the "green lungs" for the city, and protects Delhi from the hot winds of the deserts of Rajasthan to the west.

It is believed that the Aravallis are one of the oldest mountain ranges in India that evolved around 2.5 billion years ago during the Archaeozoic era.

[12][13][14] The Central Ridge includes 864 hectares of forestry which were designated a Reserved Forest in 1914, and spans from the southern fringes of Sadar Bazaar to Dhaula Kuan.

[15] A sapling of the Bodhi Tree from Sri Lanka was planted here by the then Prime Minister of India Lal Bahadur Shastri on 25 October 1964.

On an artificial island in the park stands a pavilion housing a gilded Buddha statue, which was dedicated by the 14th Dalai Lama in October 1993.

For years, Shinde exploited a panoply of forest resources including minerals, mica, sand, stone, rocks and water.

The land, once abundant with a dense and lush forest, was eventually transformed into pits and hillocks due to relentless mining activities.

However, the land on which the Aravalli Biodiversity Park is being developed lacked natural forest growth due to extensive mining in the area.

[19] In 2014, the wetland was strewn with water hyacinth and the Ridge was infested with the invasive species of prosopis juliflora (Vilayati Babul or Kikar of Mexican origin), which were planted in the 1920s by the British to rehabilitate the wasteland.

[20][21][19] The silted-up lake faced encroachment and raw sewage inflow, prompting concerned citizens to obtain a Delhi High Court order for its restoration by the government.

Southern Ridge sprawls across 6200 hectares and includes the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary, Bandhwari and Mangar Bani forests.

Plant species include butea monosperma (dhak or flame of forest), anogeissus (dhok), Wrightia tinctoria (inderjao), Indian elm, neolamarckia cadamba (kadamba), prosopis cineraria (jaand), tinospora cordifolia (giloi), etc.

[22] Mangar Bani, a Neolithic archaeological site and sacred grove hill forest on the Delhi-Haryana border, is in the South Delhi Ridge of the Aravalli mountain range in the Faridabad tehsil in the Indian state of Haryana.

Previously, the area had valleys scattered with sand-mined quarries and dried-up springs due to a lack of groundwater recharge.

Wildlife surveys are conducted by tracking pugmarks using the Pug Impression Pad (PIP) method and by photographing wild animals.