Somewhere in the NCR....

Green cover and water bodies almost equal to a quarter (23%) of Delhi’s area have been lost to development works and rabid urbanization in the National Capital Region (NCR) in the past 13 years.
The first comparative satellite-based study of change in land use in NCR has shown that between 1999 and 2012, the region lost 32,769 hectares of green areas and 1,464 hectares of water bodies, both crucial for sustainability and quality of life in the region.
During the same period, the study found that built-up area in NCR grew 34%, bringing 95,803 hectares of land into the construction zone.
The study was conducted by the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) at the instance of the NCR Planning Board (NCRPB). It’s most striking finding was the substantial loss of green cover in Delhi and areas of Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan.
Of the total loss of 32,769 hectares of green cover, the maximum loss was recorded
in NCR areas of UP (17,386 hectares), followed by Haryana at 8,716 hectares. ‘Green’ Delhi too lost 733 hectares of forest/ green land during this period, according to the draft regional plan prepared by the NCRPB.
The other alarming indicator of unsustainable growth in NCR was the loss of water bodies, reduced by 1,464 hectares. Again, the maximum loss took place in UP sub-region at 934 hectares. The Haryana sub-region bucked the trend, increasing the area under water bodies by 261 hectares.
The NRSC report also shows that environmentally fragile areas such as the Yamuna riverbed, wetlands, ridge areas and forests were being steadily usurped for development activities.
The UP and Haryana subregions, which include Gurgaon, Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad, showed a massive increase in built-up area during the study period. According to the report, the maximum increase took place in the UP sub-region, where built-up area jumped from 83,214 hectares in 1999 to 1.24 lakh hectares in 2012.