Vigilance officials seek record of corrupt officers involved in land sale in Aravallis

Gurugram: The state vigilance has sought records of all the officers and registrars who have been accused of conspiring with the property sharks and involved in illegal transaction of forest land in Aravallis. Moreover, the vigilance officials have asked for records of all the officers starting from the year 1992. Environmental activists have often claimed that weak laws are resulting in public agencies to further reduce the forest areas. It is estimated that a large portion of Aravallis forests continues to recede due to the corrupt practices of the officials.

The degradation of Aravallis was also raised in the Parliament on July 7 when Congress leader Jai Ramesh made a zero-hour mention of the illegal purchase of 400 acres of forest land by a private company in Kot village, Faridabad, in the Aravalis. He requested the Union ministry of environment and forest to protect the Aravalis by cancelling illegal purchases.

Even though it is contributes to the maximum share of the 8 percent green cover of Gurugram, rapid urbanisation, illegal encroachments and rapid extinction of natural aquifers are seen as major factors for quick deterioration of Aravallis. There are as many as 30 cases that are held up in various courts regarding illegal encroachment of Aravallis in Gurugram.

There have also been reports of illegal mining still occurring in the forest area. There have also been cases where incidents of tree felling are reported from Aravallis in Gurugram because of the upcoming reality projects.

"There are various challenges in preservation of Aravallis and the difficulties will only increase with the mass urbanisation of districts in Haryana. However, our officials are trying our best to preserve the green belt by taking various sreps like fencing and planting new varieties of plants," said a senior official from Forest department (South Division).