Curation Team
GURUGRAM: Of the 730 forest areas in Faridabad Aravalis, which are protected under Section 4 (special orders) of the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), around 85 have been cleared of encroachments. “Demolition drives, which started on June 11, were carried out at 85 locations that were identified during the survey,” said a senior forest official. PLPA bars activities such as construction, encroachment and tree felling in forest areas.
“We are now focusing on bigger structures like farmhouses. We faced resistance at some locations, and two FIRs were lodged against people for damaging earthmovers and injuring people,” he said. The SC, in July 2022, had ruled that all Aravali land protected under PLPA (special orders) should be treated as forest, with provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act, and any illegal buildings or structures should be demolished.
More than 5,000 notices warning of demolition have been served to property owners across Faridabad as part of the intensified crackdown on illegal structures in protected forest areas and Aravali land. The action is being carried out jointly by the forest department and the district administration with six earthmovers and bulldozers currently in operation.
Despite clear directives, Haryana had not completed the task and razed some 30 structures in four villages of Faridabad since the 2022 ruling. A ground-truthing exercise conducted by Haryana govt in Dec 2023 found 6,793 unauthorised structures built on protected land in the four villages. The exercise found 5,948 unauthorised structures in Anangpur village alone, while 339 such structures were found in Ankhir, 313 in Lakkarpur, and 193 in Mewla Maharajpur. Most of these structures are farmhouses and banquet halls.
The SC judgment — in the Narinder Singh vs Divesh Bhutani case — was based on appeals filed by property owners against a 2013 order of National Green Tribunal (NGT), which restrained any non-forest activities on PLPA-notified land in Anangpur village. Another appeal that was clubbed in the case was a petition against a notice to remove illegal farmhouses and banquet halls on forest lands in Anangpur, Ankhir, and Mewla Maharajpur.
PLPA, enacted in 1990 to preserve forest land, is currently applicable in 10 districts of Haryana — Panchkula, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Nuh, Gurgaon, Palwal, Faridabad, Mahendergarh, Rewari and Bhiwani.
