This story is from September 14, 2018

Panels pave way for reduction of protected land in Aravalis

Panels pave way for reduction of protected land in Aravalis
District-level committees formed by the Haryana government for a fresh survey of areas demarcated as natural conservation zones (NCZ) have recommended exclusion of some land parcels owned by private parties from its purview.
GURUGRAM: District-level committees formed by the Haryana government for a fresh survey of areas demarcated as natural conservation zones (NCZ) have recommended exclusion of some land parcels owned by private parties from its purview.
Several other areas in different parts of South Haryana, including 1,200 hectares of “bhood” (Aravali foothills) land, could also be excluded from the “confirmed” and “yet to decided” categories of NCZ, effectively bringing down the area that has legal protection from construction activity.

The forest department has, however, opposed the move and recommended that status quo be maintained. It may be noted that the Supreme Court had earlier this week pulled up the state for allowing construction on Aravali land at Kant Enclave in Faridabad and ordered demolition of all buildings built after 1992 by the end of this year. The court, while passing this order, had also observed that the constructions at Kant Enclave had done irreversible damage to the Aravalis.
The state-level committee for delineation of NCZ is set to hold a meeting on September 15 to take a decision. TOI has a copy of the agenda of the meeting which will be attended by special secretary of the revenue and disaster management department, special secretary of the forest and wildlife department, principal chief conservator of forest, deputy commissioners, district forest officers and district town planners of Faridabad, Palwal, Gurugram, Rewari, Panipat, Jhajjar, Rohtak and Sonipat, and senior town planners of Gurugram, Faridabad and Rohtak, among others.
The Faridabad sub-committee has recommended exclusion of a 52-acre land owned by Bharti Realty in Faridabad from NCZ. Its report said the whole of the licensed land was currently under the “yet to be decided” NCZ category. However, the divisional forest officer (DFO) has proposed maintaining status quo.
Similarly, parts of Green Field Colony in Sector 43, Faridabad, have been recommended to be excluded from NCZ. According to the ground-truthing report of the sub-committee, a major chunk of the colony currently falls under the “yet to be decided” NCZ category. In this case, too, the DFO has recommended maintaining status quo.

Three parcels of land in Sonepat owned by Sangam Jute Fabricators, Sidharth Jain and MTS Enterprise, respectively, and a site proposed for setting up a warehouse in Dudoli village, Mewat, also face exclusion from the “confirmed” NCZ category. The Mewat land originally belonged to the irrigation department and was transferred to the state warehouse corporation after chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced the setting up of a warehouse on it.
In December 2017, on the request of the state government, it was decided at the 37th board meeting of National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) that district-level committees would collect ground data from areas falling under NCZ and examine revenue records. Following this, directions were issued to deputy commissioners and district town planners to carry out surveys. Now, the department of town and country planning (DTCP) is likely to exclude areas from NCZ on the basis of reports from the districts.
The department, according to sources, is also planning to exclude “bhood” land from the “yet to be decided” NCZ category after which the total land falling under this particular category would come down to 11,621.94 hectares from 12,820 hectares. “The NCRPB at its 37th meeting had clearly said that the ‘gair mumkin pahar’ areas were very much a part of the Aravalis in NCR. The land falls under NCZ and no real estate construction can be allowed here,” said environmental analyst Chetan Agarwal, adding that it was not clear on what grounds, the state was now planning to exclude land from NCZ.
Senior officials of DTCP and forest department refused to comment on the issue.
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