Gurgaon: Nearly four years after National Green Tribunal (NGT) directed Haryana govt to continue remedial action against encroachments in the Aravalis, restoration remains unfinished. The state environment department has asked three deputy commissioners to review the progress of removal of unauthorised structures and submit action taken reports.The Sept letter refers specifically to NGT’s Dec 9, 2022 order. In its latest communication, the environment, forest and wildlife secretary has asked the three DCs — of Gurgaon, Faridabad and Nuh — to coordinate with the departments concerned, including municipal corporations and Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB). The DCs have been asked to ensure that the progress of removal is sent to the nodal officer, chief conservator of forests (south) “without any further delay”.In Dec 2022, the tribunal left further remedial action to Haryana and Rajasthan and directed that violations be regularly monitored and action taken in accordance with law. It also said compliance could be reviewed periodically at the level of the chief secretaries, preferably every quarter.Raisina in the city has remained at the centre of this unfinished process. TOI has repeatedly reported on the cycle of construction, demolition and rebuilding at Ansal Aravali Retreat in Raisina. In 2024, NGT took suo motu cognisance of a TOI report on structures returning after demolition in the protected hills. The issue has persisted this year too. TOI found a nearly 30-metre-wide road carved into the protected Raisina hills and reported that more than 100 trees had been felled along the stretch. Subsequent forest department inspections recorded 83 felled trees and a forest offence report was filed.“Despite the NGT judgment of 2022 to remove encroachments and restore forests in the Aravalis, construction has only increased in Raisina due to delayed action of the district administration,” environmental activist Col SS Oberoi (retd) told TOI.A forest department survey has found that at least 500 farmhouses have been built illegally on Aravali land in the city. In 2020, the administration replaced the term “gair mumkin pahar (mountainous wasteland)” with “gair mumkin farmhouse (uncultivable or barren land)” in revenue records, helping farmhouse owners bypass provisions of the Aravali notification. In 2019, around 195 show-cause notices were issued to farmhouse owners for unauthorised construction in the Aravalis, most of them at Ansals Aravali Retreat.This move is the latest in a series of directions over protection of the Aravalis that stretch back years. NGT itself — while disposing of Sonya Ghosh and Haryali Welfare Society matters in Dec 2022 — had noted that the issue had been monitored for almost 10 years and encroachments had been identified. But the history of restoration goes further back. In Oct 2018, NGT held that construction raised without permission on forest land or areas covered by the May 7, 1992 Aravali Notification had to be treated as illegal and such forest land restored. In Aug 2020, it directed prompt action for removal of violations and encroachments from identified areas. In 2021, around 30 structures in the area were demolished by Sohna Municipal Council.In Feb, officials demolished a concrete wall and two farmhouses spread over around 26 acres after detecting fresh construction activity. In March, NGT also directed a joint committee to inspect allegations of illegal tree felling and unauthorised construction in Raisina and identify violations and remedial measures. Now, three years and nine months after that 2022 order, the state environment department is again seeking progress reports on the removal of unauthorised structures.
