Gurugram public agencies to use space technology to gather evidence for encroachments in forests

Gurugram: The recent report by the forest survey of Inia once again spelled bad news for Gurugram in terms of diminishing forest cover.

To deal with the challenges of encroachment the public agencies plan to use its space technology to the Haryana space application research center (HARSAC).

The technology will be used to assess the encroachment in the forests and gather evidence against the encroachers in the court of law. The first use of the technology is going to be used at the Raisina forests where there are over 200 farmhouses that have been built.

Through the usage of space technology the public officials will get the data of the constructions that were there before the year 1992 and structures that were built post-1992.

It was in the year 1992 when construction and mining were completely prohibited in the the green belt of the Aravallis.

Most of the developers and house owners at the Aravallis however claim that they have their structures built before 1992.

In the context of Raisina forests The pollution board in its complaint stated that the 1,200-acre land is a revenue estate notified under the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) 1900, and anyone found violating the provisions of the Act shall be liable for prosecution.

It was alleged the farmhouses were constructed on the land tagged as "gair mumkin Pahar" in revenue records in 1990. Later in 1991, in connivance with the revenue officials, the land category was allegedly changed from "gair mumkin Pahar" to residential plots in revenue, records to circumvent the Aravali notification.

Lack of delineation has resulted in a host of legal cases on the control of the Aravallis.

The South Haryana forest division is involved in over 34 cases over the Aravallis in the state.The cases range from encroachments, forest act violations and changing of land use patterns in the area to favor building activities in the green belt area. The legal cases over Aravallis are being fought in the District courts of Gurugram, Punjab and Haryana High Court, National Green Tribunal and also in the Supreme Court.