Protected Aravali land abuzz with construction, roads to borewells

GURUGRAM: Trucks roll in and out, while masons measure the land and lay bricks as markers. Another group clears scraggy layers of scrub to clear a plot for the masons, who will come next. On a plot nearby, a different set of workers is drilling deep — their assignment is to build a borewell. Nearby, trees are being bulldozed to widen a pathway leading to some farmouses.

This flurry of construction is underway in at least six sites at the Aravali Retreat in Raisina Hills, even though the land is protected under Section 4 of the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) as ‘gair mumkin pahar (uncultivable hill)’.

Nestled in the Aravalis south of Gurgaon city, around 1,200 acres of land in Raisina Hills was purchased by the Ansals in 1989-1990. At the time, the area had not been notified as protected forest land.

It was the Union environment ministry’s Aravali Notification of 1992 that had barred any further construction of buildings, roads, electrification and cutting of trees in the area without permission in ‘gair mumkin pahar’ area.

A spot visit by TOI on Monday showed that work on a large two-storey structure was going on at one plot. More than a dozen labourers were spotted working on the site, some cementing the bricks and others carrying water from a nearby borewell.

Around a few kilometres from it, several boundary walls were being put up around the farmhouses, and at another site, a 1km road was being laid — all in apparent violation of the Aravali Notification. The construction had not been halted despite the mining department just last week imposing a fine of Rs 5.5 lakh on the Ansals Aravali Retreat RWA for using stones from the hills. Quarrying of Aravalis’ stones is banned in Gurgaon.

“During an inspection, we found that a road is being laid in the area, which is not permissible. Also, several construction projects are going on. We also found that they (residents) were using rocks from the Aravalis. The residents failed to produce valid documents when asked (about the source of stones) and that’s why a fine of Rs 5.5 lakh was imposed on the RWA,” said Anil Atwal, mining officer, Gurgaon.

Atwal said he has written to the Sohna sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) and the forest department to flag the issue.

When asked, SDM Jitender Kumar confirmed that he had received a complaint. “We had called the RWA to hear their side of the story. We will conduct further investigation in the issue. The mining department has already imposed a fine on them,” he told TOI.

The Aravali Retreat RWA on Monday denied that any illegal construction was going on. “We are repairing the existing roads that were damaged. No new road is being laid. Also, the fine by the mining department was not on the RWA, but on the contractor,” said Rajesh Vats, president of the RWA. This isn’t the first time landowners in Raisina Hills have been accused of defying the norms.

In 2018, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) had ordered that all illegal construction in the Aravali retreat be razed, and the forest land be restored.

A Gurgaon district committee had in May 2020 directed that show-cause notices be issued for all such activities that had violated the Aravali Notification, but the residents got a stay order from the Punjab and Haryana high court. The matter is scheduled for hearing next in October.