Singer Mika’s Damdama lake farmhouse sealed as drive against illegal constructions hots up

Nishant Yadav, deputy commissioner, Gururgam, said action will be taken against at least 200 farmhouses constructed illegally in the forest area of Aravallis in the next 15 days

The department of town and country planning (DTCP) sealed three farmhouses, including one owned by popular Punjabi singer Amrik Singh alias Mika, in Rojka Gujjar village near Damdama lake in Sohna on Tuesday evening.

DTCP officials seal a farmhouse in Damdama village on Wednesday. (Parveen Kumar/HT Photo)

Amit Madholia, district town planner (enforcement), said on Wednesday, “The action was taken in compliance with the National Green Tribunal (NGT) directions in the Sonya Ghosh case. Five more such farmhouses in Damdama will be sealed and demolished within the next seven days.”

Nishant Yadav, deputy commissioner, Gururgam, said action will be taken against at least 200 farmhouses constructed illegally in the forest areas of Aravallis in the next 15 days. “We have directed all departments and agencies to act against illegal constructions and encroachments in the forest area. We will demolish at least 200 farmhouses in the next 15 days,” he said.

The forest department said it demolished five farmhouses in Raisina village on Tuesday and action will be taken soon in areas protected under sections 4 and 5 of the Punjab Land Preservation Act, from where violations have been reported.

Rajeev Tejyan, divisional forest officer, Gururgam, said show-cause notices have been issued to violators. “In some cases, the farmhouse owners have obtained stay orders from the court but we are taking action against the violators,” he said.

According to a notice issued to Mika and the other farmhouse owners, “No person can erect, re-erect land or raise a building within a controlled area without the permission of the competent authority. So, the aforesaid construction has been raised in an unauthorised manner without the permission of the competent authority.”

Madholia said their team and the district police reached Damdama lake, 20km from the city, at 4pm on Tuesday. It took them 15 minutes by boat to reach the farmhouses, which are located on the foothills of the Aravallis and on the opposite shore of the lake. Madholia said the farmhouse owners did not give them a satisfactory reply to the notice issued in June.

The Gururgam-based counsel for Amrik Singh ‘Mika’ said a DTCP team had visited the farmhouse on Tuesday. “We will take up the matter with the department and follow due course of law. I have not yet discussed the matter with the client,” he said.

DTCP officials said those farmhouses that are not accessible by road are being sealed and will be demolished later, while those farmhouses where earth moving machines can go will be demolished.

NGT had issued an order in 2020 against illegal felling of trees and construction activities that were destroying forests. In September 2021, the NGT, while hearing the case, had asked the governments of Haryana and Rajasthan to submit a report regarding action taken against illegal constructions. The next hearing of the case is scheduled on December 9.

There are an estimated 500 illegal farmhouses in villages such as Damdama, Gwalpahari, Sohna, Raisina, Andanesar, said officials.

The drive against illegal farmhouses by the DTPC, the forest department and the district administration, had temporarily slowed down due to the implementation of stage three of Grap (Graded Response Action Plan), which had put a ban on construction and demolition activities.

The NGT had directed Haryana and Rajasthan in September 2021 to remove illegal construction in Aravallis. The directions were issued when the court was hearing a petition by Sonya Ghosh regarding illegal constructions in “gair mumkin pahar (uncultivable waste land) area” of the Aravallis in Gururgam, Nuh, Faridabad and Alawar districts. The court had also asked both the state governments to submit a report on this matter in three months.