Activists allege encroachment of Aravalli land in Gurugram’s Behlpa village

Gurugram: Environmentalists have come across yet another large-scale encroachment of protected Aravalli land, this time in Gurugram district’s Behlpa village near

Gurugram: Environmentalists have come across yet another large-scale encroachment of protected Aravalli land, this time in Gurugram district’s Behlpa village near Damdama lake. A visit to the site by HT on Sunday found that at least 15 acres of land have been cleared off trees, levelled, and fenced off with about 10-foot-high boundary wall, topped with barbed wire.

HT Image

The corroborative evidence — the existing land records — reveals that the area in question (falling under mushtil numbers 17, 18 and 24) is covered under the Aravalli Plantation project, which is, in turn, protected under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, by virtue of previous Supreme Court orders.

The environment activists alleged that close to a hundred trees have been felled at the site. Satellite imagery too shows the plot as a neat, brown square carved out amidst a larger patch of green cover.

“The area is part of a known leopard habitat and wildlife corridor between Asola Bhatti in Delhi and Sariska in Rajasthan,” said Vaishali Rana Chandra, who first alerted HT to the apparent violation. “This is one of the largest encroachments we have come across in the past couple of years in Gurugram. It is surprising that no preventive measures have been taken to curb it,” she said.

On January 18, the activists wrote yet another complaint to the state forest department highlighting such unlawful claims on Aravalli forest land. Since December 10 last year, at least three such complaints have been lodged concerning large-scale encroachments on forest land in Gurugram and Faridabad. “There has been a continued lack of will to perform and carry out their duties amongst your subaltern staff here in Gurgaon & Faridabad,” states the latest letter, which has been signed by eight activists, including Chandra.

“While these encroachments are individually in violation, taken together, they are amounting to an ongoing fragmentation of the Aravallis. Inch by inch, these fragments are eroding the carrying capacity of this ecosystem,” said col (retd) Sarvadaman Oberoi, a city-based legal and environment activist.

The environmentalists also said that despite repeated complaints to the state forest department, they have not yet received any response.

A senior official in the forest department, seeking anonymity, said, “Amrinder Kaur, the newly appointed principal chief conservator of forests, is aware of the matter. She is also aware of allegations that the DFO, Faridabad, has been party to a dubious sale of Aravalli land. An inquiry will be opened and we will respond fittingly.”

Subash Yadav, district forest officer, Gurugram, did not respond to multiple requests for comment on Monday.

Despite several attempts, the principal chief conservator of forests could not be contacted for a comment.