Gurugram: Forest dept objects to CISF camp in Aravallis

Gurugram The district forest department has objected to ongoing non-forestry activities by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in Sohna’s Mandawar village,

Gurugram The district forest department has objected to ongoing non-forestry activities by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in Sohna’s Mandawar village, which lies right in the middle of a sensitive leopard habitat in the Aravallis. On Wednesday, a team of over 100 CISF officials arrived in Mandwar to survey the area. In the afternoon, a security cordon was set up around the site and earthmoving machines were called in to start levelling the land.

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According to official documents, the Mandawar gram panchayat has sold at least 260 acres of notified Aravalli land to the CISF for setting up a paramilitary camp. A copy of the registry papers, dated September 22, with details of the transaction are with HT. They reveal that the land was sold at a cost of ₹104 crores and 29 lakhs, following a resolution passed by the panchayat on September 9.

The forest department on Wednesday sent a notice to the CISF, which said, “It is advised not to start any activity in the area without prior approval under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980 (FCA). If your staff continues work at this site, this office will be forced to take action as per the forest acts and rules.”

The notice (a copy of which is with HT) also states that the land is protected on at least two counts, by virtue of the MoEF’s Aravalli notification of 1992, and the Aravalli Plantation Project, both of which require Central clearances for non-forestry activities.

Forest department officials confirmed that while the transfer of the land is legal, construction work cannot be permitted. The transfer of land for development of public utilities has also sparked concern among environmentalists, who say the land is part of a wildlife corridor that runs from Gurugram’s Damdama lake to Roz ka Gujjar (both leopard habitats) and beyond, to Sariska in Rajasthan.

Several incidents of leopard deaths have also been reported from Mandawar, with the latest having taken place in July. Moreover, topographical maps indicate that the region is an important groundwater recharge zone. Any construction work will impede this important ecological function in an area that has already been declared a ‘dark zone’ by the Central Groundwater Authority, environmentalists said.

Subash Yadav, district forest officer, Gurugram, said, “The land is a sensitive leopard habitat and is also being treated as Aravalli by the forest department. It falls under the ministry of environment and forest’s (MoEF) Aravalli Notification of May 7, 1992, which prohibits non-forestry work without approval from the MoEF. Second, the area is also protected by the Aravalli Plantation Project, which was declared a forest by the Supreme Court in the MC Mehta judgement of March 2008, and is also protected under the FCA, 1980.”

A senior forest department official, who did not want to be named, said, “The entirety of the land is protected Aravalli. Close to 100 acres belong in the Aravalli Plantation. Of the remaining 160-odd acres, most comes under the land revenue category of ‘gair mumkin pahar’, which is recognised as ‘Aravalli’ as per the NCRPB’s Natural Conservation Zone.”

Until the delineation of NCZ is decided, the land should not have been transferred for development, the official said, adding that no forest clearance for the project has been sought by the CISF yet.

A CISF spokesperson, requesting anonymity, said, “I am aware that there has been an issue. Going forward, we will abide by the directives of the forest department authority and follow the necessary protocol.”

Narender Sarwan, district development panchayat officer, declined comment. However, a panchayat department official, familiar with the matter, said, “We are aware that about 100 acres or so of the land falls under the Aravalli Plantation. We will provide the forest department with alternative land, adjacent to the project, for compensatory afforestation. The transfer of the land has been done as per the Haryana Panchayati Raj Act of 1994, which allows common land to be sold at commercial rates for government projects.”

Environmentalists used the opportunity to draw attention towards the lack of protection for the Aravallis in Haryana. “Despite orders by the Supreme Court declaring Aravallis as forests, such intrusions continue to happen,” said Sunil Harsana, an environmentalist from nearby Mangar village of Faridabad.

A similar paramilitary of the CRPF camp in Bhondsi has also recently come under the scanner of the National Green Tribunal, which ruled that it was constructed on 300 acres of land notified under the Punjab Land Preservation Act (also declared as forest by the Supreme Court), without clearance under the FCA.

Activists pointed out that legislations such as the Aravalli Plantation and the Aravalli Notification only offer a ‘protection by proxy’ to the mountain range in Haryana, as opposed to Rajasthan, where multiple sanctuaries and national parks have been notified in the Aravalli region. In Delhi, too, the Asola Bhatti forest was recently declared an ‘eco-sensitive zone’ by the MoEF&CC and is also a notified wildlife sanctuary. “What we need is a similar notification for the Aravallis, under the Wildlife Protection Act or the Indian Forest Act. Without this, the mountain range will continue to be vulnerable to such projects,” said local environmentalist Vaishali Rana Chandra.