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Govt reverses Khemka order on ‘Aravalli consolidation’

Haryana government has reversed an over six-year-old order of then director general of Consolidation of Holdings Ashok Khemka, in which he had withdrawn the consolidation process of 3,184 acres of land in Kot village (Faridabad) consisting “a large chunk on Aravalli hills”. A formal notification to declare “intention of the state government to take up […]

An inquiry by Khemka had revealed that 2,565 acres out of 3,184 acres to be consolidated was uncultivable in the hilly area

Haryana government has reversed an over six-year-old order of then director general of Consolidation of Holdings Ashok Khemka, in which he had withdrawn the consolidation process of 3,184 acres of land in Kot village (Faridabad) consisting “a large chunk on Aravalli hills”. A formal notification to declare “intention of the state government to take up a scheme for consolidation of holdings under cultivation” was issued by Director of Consolidation of Holdings, Haryana, Nikhil Gajraj on February 1. The issue, however, came to fore, two days after Haryana Assembly amended the Punjab Land Preservation Act, opening vast stretches of Aravallis to construction, on Wednesday.

Gajraj told The Indian Express that they have initiated the process of land consolidation, following the suggestion of Faridabad district administration to consider the request of villagers. “Another reason for initiating the process is completion of jamabandi (revenue record) there.”

An inquiry by Khemka had revealed that 2,565 acres out of 3,184 acres to be consolidated was uncultivable in the hilly areas. “In case the consolidation exercise of the entire village, including gair-mumkin pahaar (uncultivable hilly areas) is carried out, it would wrongly benefit certain influential outsider purchasers,” Khemka had stated in his order issued on August 23, 2012, while putting a break on the process.
Khemka, then in a separate letter to the government, had also pointed out that huge investments in the purchase of land at Kot and Anangpur villages (Faridabad) and Bandhwari and Rozka-Gujar (Sohna) through companies must be investigated to find out the actual owners and their interests. “It seems that huge amounts of black money have been invested in the purchase of land in these villages.”

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On Friday, Gajraj confirmed the move: “Only the land under agriculture will be consolidated. This is just the initial stage of the process. If we receive objections, appropriate action will be taken. But we can’t deny land consolidation of a specific village. The process has been completed in all 7,000 villages, except about 60 in Haryana,” said Gajraj.

Terming the latest move as “dangerous for the forests”, analyst Chetan Agarwal said about 2,500 acres of Kot village, which is under consolidation, is Aravallis. “In the garb of consolidation, the hilly land is divided into small parcels, which increases its cost as it leads to easier sale-purchase.”

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Technically, land consolidation is a process to bring pieces of land together by exchange of land parcels with other farmers by rearrangement of ownership. This exercise is carried out to readjust and rationalise land holdings for betterment of agriculture.
“The aim of the consolidation Act is prevention of fragmentation of agricultural holdings and reservation of land for common purposes of the village. The object of the consolidation Act would be defeated in case gair-mumkin pahaar is included in the scheme of consolidation,” Khemka had mentioned in his 2012 order.

In fact, the department had initiated consolidation process for the purpose of “better cultivation of land” in December 2011. But when Khemka took over the charge of the director general, he found that “of the total area of 3,184 acres notified for consolidation in Kot, 2,565 acres fell under common hill area and the inclusion of this portion defeated the purpose of consolidation”.

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Four days after withdrawing the notification, Khemka had informed the government, “The region is rich in diverse flora and fauna and important for recharge of underground water. Outsiders acquired vast tracts of common hilly and forest areas, including the pristine groves of Mangar Bani held sacred by villagers.”

Khemka had also withdrawn a notification, which was meant for the consolidation process for “Rozka-Gujar — an uninhabited village, mostly forested hills, forming the main catchment of Damdama Lake in Gurgaon”. “Under the forest conservation Act, land under these two notifications (later withdrawn by Khemka) cannot be diverted for any use other than forest-related activities without the permission of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. There is hardly a local whose name figures in the revenue records today as owner. Almost the entire area is purchased by powerful business-politico-bureaucratic-police lobby with ostensibly no interest in agricultural or cultivation activities,” he had informed the government.

First uploaded on: 02-03-2019 at 02:13 IST
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