Thousands of acres of uncultivable forested hills in Haryana, Gurgaon and Faridabad face the same prospect
Two decades ago when Sunil’s parents sold off 25 acres of their family’s share of land in the Mangar forests of Faridabad, they and other villagers thought the buyers were fools to buy it up because they were assured that they could continue to use it for grazing cattle and firewood. Today, 25-year-old polio-stricken Sunil has dropped all his other dreams and moves with lightning speed on his crutch, across the forest, in government offices and with fellow activists “to save the forests from a determined State government that wants to open it for colonisation.”
What he does not know is that it is not only his village and its 740 acres of sacred Mangar Bani grove, where for centuries not even a twig was cut, that is under threat, but thousands of acres of gair mumkin pahar (uncultivable forested hills) in Gurgaon and Faridabad face the same prospect ever since they were designated as agricultural zones under the Mangar Bani development plan - 2031, the Sohna master plan - 2031 and the Gurgaon Manesar Master plan - 2031 — drawn up last year.
The land of some 25 villages from these master plans fall in the Aravalli hills, which are not only a natural recharge zone for several fresh water lakes in the vicinity, but are identified by the Central Ground Water Board as the last source for recharging depleting ground water reserves that are already inadequate to meet the drinking water needs of the population of Delhi, Gurgaon and Faridabad.
‘Identify forest areas’
In 1996 and then in July 2011, the Supreme Court directed all States to “identify areas which are forests irrespective of whether they are so notified, recognised or classified under any law” and irrespective of whether they were once forests and now stand denuded, degraded or cleared for other use.
Despite the efforts of civil society and environment activists, who have pointed out that these natural forests come under the definition of forests and need to be protected as deemed forests, this has not been done. On the other hand, Haryana’s town planning department is pushing through its real estate zoning plans on these natural forests by designating them as agricultural zones. Result: The Aravalli gair mumkin pahar, which are not recorded as forests to be protected under the Forest Conservation Act 1980, or any other protective mechanism, so far, have been bought up by realtors, politicians, bureaucrats in anticipation of the urbanisation as envisaged in the new master plans.
Most of these lands have changed hands several times over and though villagers like Sunil got a pittance for it, now they command upwards of Rs. 1 crore an acre.
In the last one year, hundreds of trees have been cut by real estate companies, with large land banks, by paying small fine ranging from Rs. 500 to Rs. 2000 a tree, so that its land use can be changed using the plea that there is no tree cover on it.
Sunil points to a couple of farmhouses that have come up in the Mangar area through this method.
Field officers admit that once a land is designated as agriculture zone, changing its land use to commercial or residential is easily justified, and it is easy to colonise.
In the Mangar Bani plan for instance, the Aravalli hills have been included as an ‘agricultural zone,’ which permits 22 kinds of real estate activities, including mega recreational zones. Mangar village alone has 3595 acres of gair mumkin pahar and nine Aravalli villages form part of the plan.
About one-third of the Aravalli hills are protected under Section 4 and 5 of the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) 1900 and, as Haryana’s Principal Chief Conservator of Forests C.R. Jotriwal told The Hindu, the government presently recognises only these areas as forests. Some area that comes under the Aravalli Plantation Scheme is also protected.
In December 2011, the Deputy Commissioner of Faridabad, after a site visit, opposed the Mangar development plan and recommended that the whole of the Aravali gair mumkin pahar zone should be excluded from the agriculture zone and delineated as a water recharge and forest conservation zone. He also pointed out that it is critical to preserve this area because the district of Faridabad depends on groundwater for its domestic water supply and had recommended that the entire gair mumkin pahar-deemed forests of Aravallis should be brought under PLPA to protect it. These suggestions were not accepted.
Geo-referenced map
In May, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOeF), acting on a letter by the Mission Gurgaon Development — a group of conservationists — directed the State government to put the Mangar Bani plan in abeyance until a geo-referenced map of all natural and recorded forests of the area is prepared in accordance with the Supreme Court judgment. Though the State government has appointed a nodal officer for doing this, no district has so far identified the ‘forest’ areas apart from those already existing in revenue records. Field officers say that they are hampered, as the government has not clarified which areas have to be identified and mapped.
Meanwhile, as Sarvdaman Oberoi of Mission Gurgaon has pointed out in another letter to the Chief Secretary and the MoEF, “It seems that the Haryana government and the Forest Department are hiding behind procedural delays and ambiguities, as real estate speculators buy up the Aravalli hills in anticipation.” Says he, “Although the Mangar Bani plan has been put on hold by the MoEF, the government is going ahead with the Sohna and Gurgaon Manesar plans, which are equally damaging for the Aravallis.”
The Aravalli hills are not only rich in floral biodiversity, but are an important wildlife corridor between the Asola Bhatti wildlife sanctuary in Delhi and the Rajasthan Aravallis. They are also the catchment for several lakes like Badhkal, Surajkund, Dhauj and Peacock, some of which have turned seasonal in the last decade.
Thanks to the correspondent for bringing this to light! Crooked Haryana officials and politicians should be ashamed of raping their own land.
This is such an unfortunate situation. In our current society (and
specifically north India), almost everyone is hungry for more land and
property. When I talk to anyone I know from here, I found an irony.
Our lust for more piece of land is based on assumption that property
is best wealth and we will pass that wealth to our next generation.
This assumption is so wrong that we are going to to leave nothing for
them. What we are trying to create is a jungle of concrete with no
room for nature to help us survive. Let's keep some room for fauna and
flora. Please share this article with whomsoever you can. If you can
motivate one person to buy land in such place or stop any
builder/administrator/politician (aka decider of fate) from getting
involved in this, I will call that success. Not sure how can this can
be converted into a public movement but may be start with yourself.
Wait for nature to hit back with vengeance - it will not happen immediately, may be in 5-10 years.
Hope Supreme Court is moved to bring back the aravalli lands under Forest Conservation Act.. else the real estates will make it a unlivable place for the hoarding money.. This is unjustified but then how can I forget its India !!
Unfortunately we do not have a strong opposition party, and neither are there any strong leaders who stands with the true principles and morals. Gandhiji just remains as statue - Yes, India is sliding down fast and furiously - D-Day seems not far!
Such acts are crimes against nature and India's humanity as a whole and
will harm generations to come. There is absolutely no coherent planning,
control or guidelines on preservation and development - only greed,
crony capitalism and coercion. Whatever plans there are are also
distorted to suit privileged cronies. .
This is a typical example of our degrading values. Lust for money is above the forests which are vital for our survival.
The forest cover in our country is already less than 33% and felling of these trees would deteriorate the situation. We must consider the future before taking any step as ground water scarcity and pollution is a major problem in the adjoining areas of Delhi, Gurgaon and Faridabad.
This is one more proof if at all we need one that both government benches and the opposition benches have let down those whom they claim to represent!!
By not acting as a balance to protect such reserves for the survival of the nation the BJP led opposition close on the heels of selling out the Bellery iron ores to the highest bidder (rather than processing them domestically creating jobs here and potentially earning more FX - headed by the bigot Rajnath Singh has now threatened to break the tender communal balance that holds....
Shame on the politicians ... but we all know they are thick skinned till they are gheroed for their misdeeds!!!
It seems that another Big SCAM is on the making at the cost of the
people and the very valuable eco-system. It will make irreparable damage
to environment, climate, water-bodies etc. This and other dealings of
the Indian central and state gov'ts are wholesale exploitation of the
Indian people. I think, the people of India cannot afford the present
style of 'functioning anarchy' in the name of democracy.
What a stupid game is playing govt. first they are transforming the
forest land in name of agricultural development zones then selling the
same natural and virgin land to hungry real estate companies. Haryana
which is already forest deficit state is destroying the small forest
area for the sake of development. We should follow the concept of
sustainable and inclusive development & protect the environment. The
team of The Hindu is doing commendable job to make such issues in
public.
Real injustice to nature. Environment is suffering in the hands of
greedy real estate people and politicians. How one can exploit the
resource which is giving so much to the people without asking.
Something has to be done to save our precious mother nature.!!!
I am yet to see a day when nature and environment in any shape or form
is not getting sabotaged. Ever thought about the race between corruption
and population; it's gulping the natural habitats of multitude of varied
species of living creatures. It[nature] is at the brink of exhaustion.
Please Government and People, Wake Up!
Let us weep for India. Where are these politicians and bureaucrats
taking us to? is this the tryst that Nehru spoke of at the midnight
hour. Let us hope the people at large stand up and stop this land grab.
While other nations are protecting their forests as national treasures
we destroy them.
Exploitation of forest lands by the politicians should not be
permitted. The courts should intervene in these matters strongly.
For ordinary citizens, the courts are the only solace.
If unchecked India will become a barren land with concrete jungles.
The future generations will starve to death.
The culture continues. You give One rupee to the tribal and take land sell it at 1 Crore and make gain of cash 99999999 . thus reducing the value of the rupee and making that money without value addition. We cannot become wealthy by developing new things or reducing cost of existing things by domain work and hence the making of pseudo wealty by buy and sell in trickery
Not sure as to how government take decisions, but it will be inhuman if they go with the decision to make the forest land available to the hungry real state companies. This will surely affect the climatic conditions of Delhi and entire North India.
Water scarcity is already a problem there, which might worsen because of this.I hope they use their basic human instincts before cutting down those trees.
very SAD news to read in the morning !!!! one side we are facing a crunch on rain scarcity and other side is we are turning our head towards "stone age" (because if there are no trees or vegetation only buildings will be there ). let us show some respect towards environment. we are here to share same space survive.let them live, let us live
This is a classic example of Crony capitalism, where land developers
in Collusion with Politicians and Govt officials encroach upon Green
Belt areas and start buildings, homes, Malls. At this rate, whole of
India will become a concrete jungle in 50 years time and we will not
have any forests left. It is a complete failure of Govt who instead of
protecting the forests of India has sold itself to the highest bidder.
Future of India looks very bleak and the country is going down the
wrong path into a very deep & dark precipice.There is no one who is
able to oppose these crony capitalists.
Its really insane to take a decision like this. All these trees have
done crime being came up in these natural forests, had they come under
the definition of forests by Law they would save them and us as well.
Development at least not required by intentional damage to trees.
Haryana govt is becoming corrupt which each passing day. This treasure needs to be saved. If they want to construct buildings and residential colonies why not target barren lands. Why are they using a fertile land which is holding up our nature and creating the balance.
We should raise our voice against this injustice to nature.
Some people just don't learn from others. We have seen consistenly that the western model of development is unsustainable. Sad state of affairs. This kind of continous forced relocation of people will eventually lead to mass violence.
We have become so blind in the acquiring of wealth that we are ready to
kill even our biodiversity that sustains us.We are on the brink of a
great disaster and it might be too late before we realise our mistakes.
We commons are hugely responsible for this too. Wake up world..all I
gotta say.
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