Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar on Monday undertook an aerial survey of Aravali range in Haryana’s districts in the wake of reported encroachment in the area and also, to find solutions to protect the natural beauty of the Aravali range.
The Union Minister's visit has also come amidst the speculation over change in draft definition of “forest”. The visit is likely to help define “forests” in the state, which has been the bone of contention for the last two decades.
Javadekar was accompanied by Forest Minister of Haryana Rao Narbir Singh during the aerial survey.
Talking to the mediapersons after the survey, Javadekar said, “I undertook a comprehensive aerial survey of Aravali. Our government’s policy is to save environment with balanced development and we would ensure that Aravalis are protected.”
“We also had elaborate discussions on right solutions so that Aravalis natural beauty can be enhanced, how to achieve balanced development along with saving the environment,” said the Union Minister.
A large stretch of the Aravalis are not dense forests. In fact, they are recorded as "gair mumkin pahar", "gair mumkin rada" and "rundh" in records with sparse vegetation.
The draft notification of 2016 does recognise these areas but says that only parts of it with more than 10% crown cover located contiguous to any recorded forest will be recognised as "forests”.
Around 11,500 hectares of forests in Haryana's NCR, much of it in the Aravalis, could fail to get protection if the draft is notified.
last year in January, Chief Minister Manohar lal Khattar had also carried out an
aerial inspection of Aravali and Mangarbani following which he had given direction for demarcation of Mangarbani. In June, the State Government had finally notified around 1700 hectares of Mangarbani in Gurgaon and Faridabad as no construction zone.
Notably, the NCR Planning Board had asked the State Government to address the environmental concerns raised by various quarters in the State’s sub-regional plan after reports of large-scale construction activities in the Aravali belt, including the Mangarbani forest falling in Gurgaon, Faridabad and Mewat districts.
The State had then agreed to demarcate Mangarbani grove as no-construction zone and limit the construction in the National Conservation Zone to 0.5 per cent. In April, the Ministry of Environment and Forest had also written to the NCR Planning Board, where it was mentioned that Haryana must increase its forest cover and had suggested it to increase green zones by 400 per cent.