Aravallis land worth over Rs 1000 crore illegally acquired

Gurugram: At a time when the Haryana government is facing severe criticism by environmental activists fore trying to sell out Aravallis, there is an allegation that four acres of Aravallis near Delhi border have been illegally acquired. The valuation of this land is valued at more than Rs 1000 crore. Certain MCG officials also claim that some amount of land is acquired.

Having witnessed a large scale real estate development, encroachment of government land for private use is not a new phenomenon in Gurugram. Certain reports have found that there is also a deep nexus between the officials and the builders. In one more land scam that has emerged, large tracts of Panchayat land of Sikanderpur village along the prime land of MG road are being used for private purpose.

After the rise in the number of illegal colonies, landholdings and commercial establishments in Gurugram, authorities in the past took action against officials who registered the land without proper registrations. Allegations have also been levelled against senior officials in the past for changing the land use pattern for the profit motive. Owing to the irregularities, most of the builder mafia have been successful in selling plots in the illegal colonies because of the irregularities in land registrations and thus earning huge profits.

The ambiguities in laws have allowed the encroachers to target the green belt area of Aravallis. Presently, the Gurugram Forest Division is involved in over 30 cases over the Aravallis in the state. The cases range from encroachments, forest act violations and changing of land use patterns in the area to favour building activities in the green belt area.

The legal cases over Aravallis are being fought in the District courts of Gurugram, Punjab and Haryana High Court, National Green Tribunal and also in the

Supreme Court.