1,000-acre city forest in Sakatpur runs into legal hurdle
Gurugram The district administration’s plans of creating a 1,000-acre city forest in Sakatpur village, under the afforestation component of Jal Shakti Abhiyan, have run into a roadblock with villagers alleging that the land was illegally transferred to the forest department.
Forest department officials said on Tuesday that all non-forestry work at the site has been completed and that no further non-forestry activities will be sanctioned. The proposed city forest in the Aravalli foothills, the third such set-up — the others being the Aravalli Biodiversity Park and Wazirabad bundh — was proposed to be the largest one yet in Gurugram. Afforestation is one of the five major interventions for water conservation proposed under the Centre’s Jal Shakti Abhiyan, being implemented locally by the district administration.
The forest department, on August 6, had been instructed by the principal chief conservator of forests (Haryana), to carry out a plantation drive in Sakatpur, “on a big scale involving the staff of forest department, other related departments, NGOs, and educational institutions.” This was after 200 acres of Aravalli land was handed over to the forest department on July 23 via a resolution of the gram panchayat (a copy of which is with HT).
Locals, however, say that the transfer of land contradicts previous orders of the Punjab and Haryana high court, which instructed that a status quo be maintained with regard to the land’s ownership and use. Villagers had approached the high court on October 15, following which notices were issued to the Sakatpur gram panchayat, to the deputy commissioner, to the district development and panchayat officer (DDPO), and to the chief secretary, Haryana, on October 23.
The respondents have been asked to be present in the high court on April 7, 2020, when the court will hear the matter next.
Sahid Khan, a Sakatpur resident and former sarpanch of Sakatpur gram panchayat, said, “Despite previous court orders, from as far back as 2006, which were in favour of the panchayat land being vested with the villagers, a resolution was passed by the current sarpanch to hand it over to a third party. Since August 9, a road on the land has also come upon the land, which is a non-forestry activity.”
Subash Yadav, district forest officer, confirmed that a road had been built at the site. “But required clearances under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, were duly sought by the Public Works Department, which built the road. I’d like to assure the residents that there is no further non-forestry work proposed at the site.”
However, Yadav added that plantation work would continue as the land, being Aravallis, is a deemed forest and therefore, any forestry work does not violate the high court’s instructions to maintain status quo. “As far as the legality of the transfer is concerned, we will wait to see what the court decides,” he said.
Amit Khatri, deputy commissioner, and Narender Sarwan, DDPO, did not respond to requests for comment on Tuesday. Pritam Yadav, sarpanch of the Sakatpur gram panchayat, also did not respond to request for comment.
