Not Aravallis any more? Gair mumkin pahar in Faridabad left out of conservation zone in DTCP report

Only areas categorised as gair mumkin pahar (uncultivable wasteland) in revenue records of Gurugram district have been marked as Aravalli forests in Haryana, according to a ground-truthing exercise of natural conservation zones conducted by the Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP), which renders null the protection for such land in Faridabad

Only areas categorised as gair mumkin pahar (uncultivable wasteland) in revenue records of Gurugram district have been marked as Aravalli forests in Haryana, according to a ground-truthing exercise of natural conservation zones conducted by the Department of Town and Country Planning (DTCP), which renders null the protection for such land in Faridabad.

Environmentalists are concerned that lack of protection for gair mumkin pahar land in Faridabad Aravallis would reduce the green buffer of the region. (JasJeer Plaha/Archive)

A document was prepared by the DTCP on ground-truthing of natural conservation zones (NCZs) in Haryana subregion of the National Capital Region (NCR), according to the orders issued by the principal secretary of town and country planning of Haryana in a meeting held in August.

All Aravalli land must be strictly notified as per the Aravalli notification of 1992 issued by the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEF&CC), stated the minutes of the meeting of a state-level committee, held under the chairmanship of principal secretary, town and country planning.

An excerpt from the minutes of the meeting, accessed by HT, states, “Definition of Aravalli may not be extended to other Haryana subregion areas which are not defined in the Aravalli notification dated 07.05.1992 unless the same is done by MoEF&CC through a similar notification. So only specified areas in old district Gurgaon existing on 07.05.1992 may be part of ‘confirmed NCZ’ by virtue of being ‘Aravalli’ and such areas of other districts may be excluded from the NCZ category that is from confirmed and yet to be decided.”

The ground-truthing document states that all district level subcommittees (DLSCs) were asked to finalise areas of “confirmed NCZ” with specific reference to Faridabad, Mewat and Rewari districts. But identification of Aravalli was highlighted as a major issue by the DLSCs, as it was noted from revenue records that “there is no term namely Aravalli, rather there is only mention of gair mumkin pahar.”

As per the minutes of the meeting, it was also directed that the union environment ministry can add other districts under the Aravalli notification, but “it cannot be considered otherwise as Aravalli by National Capital Region Planning Board or the constituent states.”

Confirming the move, an official of the forest department, who took part in the meeting of the state-level committee said, “This primarily means that gair mumkin pahar in Faridabad district, considered as Aravallis at present, will lose the tag now. We are not sure whether this land will be diverted for real estate, but it would not be considered as Aravalli.”

Yash Garg, the deputy commissioner of Gurugram, who had also attended the meeting said that as per the 1992 Aravalli notification of MoEF&CC, gair mumkin pahar in Gurugram district will be considered as Aravallis.

“The 1992 notification of MoEF&CC mentions that gair mumkin pahar of old Gurugram district and Alwar in Rajasthan are to be considered as Aravallis, so that will be done. If any other area from neighbouring districts was part of Gurugram district (in 1992), then that will also be covered,” said Garg. The official said that neighbouring district of Nuh (earlier Mewat) was part of Gurugram when the MoEF&CC notification was issued.

Chetan Agarwal, an independent forest analyst said, “Aravallis are crucial to the ecological security of Faridabad for groundwater security, and it is also an important wildlife habitat that is adjacent to Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary. The Supreme Court has given several orders to protect Faridabad Aravallis; it remains to be seen how their implementation will be affected. But this move will deeply impact the ecology of the region with the key part of only green belt of NCR being lost, leading to further deterioration of environment. Now, the 10% of the Mangar Bani sacred forest that falls in Gurgaon will remain in the Aravallis, but the 90% that is in Faridabad district in Mangar village will not be in the Aravallis anymore and will lose the protection of the natural conservation zone.”

RP Balwan, a former forest conservator of Gurugram, said, “Aravali Afforestation project funded by European Union was implemented from 1990 to 1999 by government of Haryana in Aravali hills spread over then Faridabad, Gurgaon, Rewari, Mahendergarh, Bhiwani districts; with working plans and district gazetteers describing the Aravali hills extension. Geological Survey of India, Central Ground Water Board, GWC, Haryana Mining Department all mentioned Aravali extension in Haryana. Are all these records wrong?”

In December 2016, the NCR Planning Board (NCRPB) in a meeting decided that “specified areas” (land categories of gair mumkin pahar or gair mumkin rada or gair mumkin behed or banjar beed or rundh) as given in the MoEF&CC’s notification dated 07.05.1992 are to be included while identifying /delineating Aravalli in NCR. In the meeting, it was also decided that as there is no specific definition available for Aravallis and that the “specified areas” as per the MoEF&CC notification “will be adopted for delineating Aravallis in the entire NCR.”

Officials of the forest department and the Faridabad deputy commissioner also did not respond to requests for comment. KM Pandurang, the director of the DTCP, also did not respond to requests for comment.