Forest department to issue 62 notices over illegal construction in Faridabad Aravalis

GURUGRAM: The district forest department of Faridabad will soon serve show-cause notices to 62 farmhouse owners for illegal construction in Anangpur and Mangar areas of the Aravalis. The owners will be asked to reply within a week, officials from the department said.

The notices will be served this week as per the directions of National Green Tribunal (NGT) to restore forests in the Aravalis. Last week, the forest department had served notices to 23 farmhouse owners in Mewla Maharajpur and 20 in Ankhir. Three teams from the department have started a survey in Anangpur and Mangar on Tuesday to identify new illegal construction in these areas.

Forest department officials are also video-recording farmhouses and action will be taken against those farmhouses violating the norms as directed by NGT.

The NGT’s directions to the state government came earlier this year during a hearing of a petition on illegal construction in the Aravalis. After the order, the department conducted a survey, and it was found that 123 farmhouses had been built illegally in different areas of the Aravalis falling in Faridabad district. Out of these, 57 are in Anangpur and five in Mangar.

A senior state forest department official said that many areas have been robbed of their green cover in areas protected under sections 4 and 5 of the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) and the Aravali Notification due to illegal construction.

“We have started verifying the records before sending show-cause notices to farmhouse owners. Forest range officers are checking the actual violations of the norms. We will finish these works within a week, and serve notices to the remaining farmhouse owners by next week,” said divisional forest officer Raj Kumar.

Any kind of non-forest activity is prohibited in land falling under section 4 & 5 of PLPA and the Aravali Notification. Under sections 3(1) and 3(2)(v) of the Environment Act, 1986 and Section 5(3)(d) of the Environment (Protection) Rules, 1986, cutting of trees and construction is prohibited in the areas covered by the Aravali Notification.