News: Illegal farmhouses, walls razed in Gwalpahari-27-08-2021
Gurgaon: The forest department demolished nine structures, including two farmhouses, built illegally in the Aravalis in Gwalpahari on Thursday. Around 16 acres of forest land had been encroached upon by the structures in the area, which falls under sections 4 and 5 of the Punjab Land Protection Act (PLPA), 1900. No non-forest activity is not permitted in the area.
Apart from the two farmhouses, five boundary walls and two nurseries were also razed. The department had demolished nine structures in the same area on Wednesday.
The move comes after the Supreme Court on July 23 ordered the Haryana government not to spare any illegal structures in the Aravalis, including farmhouses, commercial establishments, and religious structures, while hearing a plea regarding demolition in Khori village.
In Gurgaon, this is the first demolition drive so far after the SC directive. “We are carrying out demolition in Gwalpahari at present. Some illegal structures had come up in the Aravali area in the past few years. We razed nine illegal strictures on Wednesday. We will carry out demolition in the coming days in other areas as well,” said Karambir Malik, forest range officer, Gurgaon.
Forest minister Kanwal Pal Gujjar had last year said a total of 60 illegal farmhouses were constructed in the Aravalis — 50 in Faridabad and 10 in Gurgaon — between 2000 and 2020. According to a forest department survey, however, at least 500 farmhouses have been built illegally on Aravali land in Gurgaon, concentrated in areas like Gwalpahari, Gairatpur Bas, Sohna, Raisina and Manesar.
A similar demolition drive is also being carried out in the Faridabad Aravalis.
Meanwhile, a survey is being carried out in the two districts using drones on illegal structures in the Aravalis. This includes 7,019 hectares of forest areas in Gurgaon and 8,688 hectares in Faridabad.
