Gurugram: Illegal buildings crop up in Aravali Biodiversity Park

GURUGRAM: The Aravali Biodiversity Park in DLF 3, tagged by the Centre for other effective areabased conservation measures (OECM) last year, is witnessing rampant illegal construction activities,
especially near its boundary walls. The MCG said it would constitute a team to demolish the illegal structures and strengthen surveillance around the park.
Residents alleged that an over 2km road, starting from the DLF 3 area, breaks the park boundary wall and goes into the forest area, and farmhouses, dairies, and slums have cropped up along it. Piles of construction and demolition waste, claimed the residents, are also growing in the area.

In revenue records, the park falls under ‘gair mumkin pahar’ (uncultivable hill), where non-forest
activities such as cutting trees and construction remain prohibited. The Municipal Corporation
of Gurgaon owns the land and should stop the non-forest activities, said residents.
In February last year, the environment, forest, and climate change ministry (MoEFCC) and the National
Biodiversity Authority (NBA) included the 392-acre green sprawl on rocky terrain under OECM, the first
site in India with the tag.
The OECM sites in the United Nations World Conservation Monitoring Centre database are separate from protected forests but governed and managed to achieve in-situ biodiversity conservation in the long term by involving local communities, the private sector, and government agencies.

“We (residents) have complained to officials regarding encroachments in the Aravali area. The dumping
of C&D waste in the park is quite common. Illegal slums are also coming up. Several portions of the
boundary wall lie broken,” said Akhilesh Mahajan, a DLF 3 resident.
Another resident, Sanjay Kumar, said, “Not just construction, several trees are cut, and the land gets levelled regularly. No action has been taken. How can an OECM site face such an issue? Why is the government not paying attention to this green patch, which is so rare for this region.” PC Meena, commissioner, MCG, Gurgaon, said, “We will constitute a team to carry out surveillance and
also will conduct demolition drives wherever illegal constructions have cropped up.” The park has semi-arid vegetation, nearly 400 native plants, over 1 lakh trees, and more than 180 bird
species, which accounts for a fraction of the Aravali forests in Haryana, but makes it a green lung for the
city, said ecologists.