The forest department said that a demolition effort would take place in more than 100 acres of an 11-village-diameter Aravali forest area in the coming month. The forest department conducted a survey and found that these regions had been invaded for the purpose of building farmhouses.
Next month, we will be conducting a large-scale demolition drive in the area. The push has been put on hold while lower-level departmental employees are transferred. According to Karamvir Malik, a forest ranger in Gurgaon, “We have already given out more than 70 notifications to encroachers who have seized the Aravali forest area.
After the Supreme Court mandated it in a 2004 decision, the Aravali Plantation project, which was carried out in the 1990s to revitalise over 33,000 hectares across six districts in the state, was declared under FCA. Only 3.6% of Haryana’s total land area is classified as forest, which is one of the lowest percentages of any Indian state.
The forest agency will use drone surveys every month after the restoration is finished to make sure no more encroachment occurs.
According to a survey by the forest department, there are at least 50 such farmhouses located in places like Gwal Pahari, Gairatpur Bas, Sohna, Raisina, Manesar, Shikohpur, Sahrawan, Naurangpur, Sakatpur, Ghata, and Baharampur that were constructed illegally on Aravali property.
Due to the illegal land ownership in this region, mostly held by panchayats and private owners despite the ban on construction in that area, as the Aravali requires ongoing supervision.
The forest agency must make sure the area is safeguarded because it is a protected forest under a Supreme Court decision. Farmhouses, boundary fences, and encroachments shouldn’t be permitted, according to ecologist and wildlife specialist Sunil Harsana.
Source-TOI
