MoEF report on Aravalli status sought in 3 weeks

GURUGRAM: The National Green Tribunal (NGT), on Tuesday, directed the ministry of environment and forests (MoEF) to submit a final report within three weeks on whether the 52 acres of land in Faridabad’s Sarai Khwaja village falls under the protected zone or not.

In June last year, Lt Col (retd) Sarvadaman Singh Oberoi had filed a petition in the NGT stating that the state government had granted permission to two companies for felling trees without obtaining forest clearance under the provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980. More than 10,000 trees were felled in June to clear land for construction. The petitioner demanding that construction of realty projects be banned in gair mumkin pahar (non-cultivable) areas of the Aravalli, which is deemed forest land.

Back then, the tribunal had sought clarification from the MoEF on the protection status accorded to the land as no construction beyond 0.5% is allowed in areas under the Natural Conservation Zone (NCZ), a level of protection accorded to all of the Aravallis, as per the National Capital Region (NCR) Planning Board’s Regional Plan for 2021.

The pending NCZ status in this case leaves room for the land use to be changed and open it up for construction.

Acting on NGT’s order, the MoEF had submitted an inquiry report to the Haryana government and the NGT in August 2017. The report stated that the land in question should be considered a deemed forest. In September 2017, the NGT directed the state government to file its response to the MoEF report by September 30, but the government is yet to comply. Since no response has been filed till date, the tribunal has now directed the ministry to submit a final report on its own.