Gurgaon’s ‘city forest’ may include a leopard safari

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Work on the city forest was kicked off with the minister planting a sapling near Sakatpur village. The forest will be developed on around 1,000 acres of land in villages like Sakatpur, Gairatpur Bas and Shikohpur, said officials. “Seeing the high level of pollution here, we’ve decided to create the city forest. To develop it, the Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority will bring treated water from the sewage treatment plant here, so it can be used to maintain trees and plants,” said Singh.

“Daily, 17 crore litres of water is treated at the Behrampur STP, of which only 80 or 90 lakh litres is used. The remaining 16 crore litres is being wasted. Work is being done by GMDA to bring this water to the city forest, which will also be used in the lakes being constructed here,” he said.

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Officials said many activities will be conducted in the city forest, including plantation of trees, “so that people can come here to connect with nature and get some peace”.

“We are taking support of corporate companies to develop the forest. Many corporates have shown an interest in planting trees for it. These companies will be allotted spaces in the forest, where they can undertake plantation,” said Singh.