GIS

Haryana will identify Najafgarh lake as wetland

After claiming that there was no lake called Najafgarh Jheel in their records, Haryana government told National Green Tribunal of India that it will be included and identifi ed as a wetland in a survey by the government.

“Haryana government had fi rst claimed there is no jheel, then they said the lake was not demarcated in their revenue records and it was just a natural depression. Today, they said Najafgarh Jheel will be identifi ed after a survey and notifi ed,” said Jayant Tripathi, lawyer representing Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach).

Intach had proposed a plan to revive the lake to Delhi Development Authority (DDA) and Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) but none acted. In its application, Intach says “the jheel, if revived, would not only be a huge reservoir catering to the needs of the residents of Delhi and Gurgaon, it would also be a very important source for recharge of the groundwater aquifers. It is submitted that by the acts of omission and commission on part of the various respondents (Delhi, Haryana governments and Centre) the jheel is nearly extinct.”Najafgarh Jheel is marked in Delhi government’s master plan 2021 but the government has not taken any steps to either revive it or prevent encroachments. http://timesofi ndia.indiatimes.com

Prof Vidal Ashkenazi has been awarded an OBE

Nottingham Scientifi c Ltd (NSL) has announced that Prof Vidal Ashkenazi, Founder and CEO of NSL, has been awarded an OBE in the 2017 New Year’s Honours List for Services to Science.

Vidal has been involved with the geodetic aspects of positioning by using satellites from the earliest days. In 1976 he was invited by the US National Geodetic Survey (NGS) to assist with the development of geodetic coordinate systems, the framework that is still used today by satellite navigation (satnav) and mapping systems.