How a lack of definition is aiding destruction of the Aravallis

gurugram: Despite regular intervention from environmental activists and the judiciary, local authorities in Haryana and other elements like the land mafia in specific areas have time and again found ways to destroy the green cover of the Aravallis and have been able to largely do so because of loose definitions of what qualifies as "forest areas".

As Gurugram has expanded and developed over the years, a large number of residential colonies and commercial centres have come up around the Aravallis. It is estimated that more than 250 acres of Aravallis today is vulnerable because of road projects that are planned to improve connectivity in the city. Over the years, more than 350 acres of Aravallis have been destroyed because of the construction of roads where trees were felled and hillocks were flattened.

Lack of proper definition of forest areas has ensured that vital green areas of Aravallis are destroyed for development works. Only four percent of the area of Aravallis in Gurugram has been notified as a forest. The Punjab land conservation law allows for twenty-five percent of the green cover of Aravallis to be defined as forest area depending upon how dense the vegetation is. The matter of how much harm is being caused to Aravallis has now reached several courts in the country including the Supreme Court.

Kept in abeyance for long, officials from Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority (GMDA) continue to approve cutting trees in the eight acres of Aravallis forest around Ghata village to build a road connecting to the Golf Course Extension. The move has been objected by environmentalists, who say that more than two thousand trees would have to be axed in the process. However, persistent protests and judicial interference ensured that the project does not go through.

There were also plans by the Haryana Government to build a road through the Aravallis Biodiversity Park spread across 650 acres so that traffic can be reduced at the Mehrauli-Gurugram Road. The State Government was again forced to not implement it after various citizen groups came on the streets to protest the move.

For long, environmentalists have expressed fear that the state government can go ahead and carry out development activities as it has passed a law to remove 60,000 acres of forests from the protected cover. The State Government has not yet been able to implement the move because the Supreme Court had stayed the order.

In the forest areas of Bandhwari, Gairatpur, Raisina and Manesar, roads have been built illegally so that there is better connectivity for the farmhouses that have also been built illegally in these forested areas.

There are reports of how the land mafias have destroyed the Aravallis hillocks at Darbaripur to build roads in the area. Darbaripur is located at the South Peripheral Road (SPR) and provides a profitable real estate proposition for builders and the land mafia.