Gurgaon: National Green Tribunal (NGT) has set a deadline for various agencies and authorities amid mounting concerns over alleged damage to the city’s fragile Aravali landscape.In an order delivered on Jan 30 — that was uploaded on Saturday — NGT gave four weeks to the Centre, Haryana principal chief conservator of forests, the state govt, Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), the divisional forest officer and the district wildlife officer to respond to allegations of construction, tree loss, illegal borewells and disruption of wildlife corridors in the ecologically sensitive Aravali range in the city’s Sector 54. The tribunal was hearing a plea, filed by environmentalist Vaishali Rana, alleging that the unauthorised constructions stood within the ecologically sensitive Aravali Range, which functions as a wildlife corridor supporting diverse fauna and bird species. The matter is now listed for April 24.The bench — headed by chairperson Prakash Shrivastava and expert member A Senthil Vel — allowed additional time after the state govt counsel sought four weeks to place responses on record.The tribunal first took up the matter on July 28, 2025, observing that the plea raised “substantial issues relating to compliance of environmental norms”, and issued notice to all concerned authorities.According to the July 2025 order, the plea flagged rampant construction, dumping of debris and mud to flatten land, cutting and burial of fully grown trees, illegal digging of borewells, filling of natural gorges and gulches, installation of electricity poles inside forest areas, construction of a 1.5km motorable road through the Aravallis, noise pollution from loudspeakers, plastic pollution and commercial activity inside the forest zone.In an earlier round of hearings last year, the tribunal took cognisance of alleged encroachment over more than 10 acres of Aravalli forest land in Sector 54, including construction of an unauthorised building and parking lot, installation of illegal borewells, light and noise pollution, concretisation of natural stormwater drains and operation of an unlicensed commercial cowshed, all stated to be in violation of environmental laws and the 1992 Aravali Notification.
