Bucking the trend, Gurugram urban elite spearheads protest to save Aravallis

GURUGRAM: Criticised for long for not being involved in the political and social affairs of the country, the rich and urban elite in Gurugram are bucking the trend.

More than a hundred residents of the city have been involved in a year-long fight to save the Aravallis which after the state government order is vulnerable to being destroyed.

On Sunday morning residents came in large numbers at the Aravallis forest and organised a Chipko movement which was also done earlier to save the forests. The movement was organised at the Aravalis forest area near the Sun City, a colony where a 500 square year plot would cost over Rs 12 crores. Those who were involved in the protest included women entrepreneurs, college students, corporate honchos and even certain journalists who had come in the capacity of private citizens of Gurugram.

On the face of it, the unique forms of protest lasted for only three hours but residents feel that it is important that the message of the protest should be sent to the seats of power.

“We are coming into an age where people are not fearing to express their protest. We want to make sure that we send our message across to the government and make them know of our displeasure over the move of removing the Aravallis from the PLPA. I also feel that in the present time it is much more important to register your anger through protest and marches than being violent,” said Raghavendra Singh, a city resident.

From the time the Haryana government passed the order that thousands of acres of land will be taken out of the Punjab Land and Preservation act, most of the residents have continued to exert pressure. It was only of the activism by the citizens that the government was not able to implement the move as the residents were able to get the stay order from the Supreme Court. Not only had the top court stayed the order but even

lashed out at the government than to have passed the law that would damage a large portion of the Aravallis. One

lakh hectare is the total area of Aravallis spread mostly around the areas of Gurugram.