Rollback of amendments to land Act sought

Over 100 people take out procession to highlight danger looming over Aravali forests

January 20, 2020 01:38 am | Updated 01:38 am IST - Gurugram

Participants at the symbolic funeral procession march.

Participants at the symbolic funeral procession march.

Dressed in white, people from Delhi, Gurugram and Faridabad took out a symbolic funeral procession march to highlight the grave danger looming over the Aravali forests — the NCR’s lifeline for clean air and water security — and sought the roll-back of the controversial amendments to the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), 1900, with the Haryana Assembly session beginning on Monday.

Slogans of “Withdraw PLPA Amendment Bill”, “Aravalli Bachao”, “Stop illegal constructions in our forests” reverberated through the air as more than 100 people, consisting of students and people from different walks of life marched from Sikanderpur metro station to Mehrauli-Gurgaon road metro station and back.

Forest cover

“The PLPA Amendment Bill, 2019, which has been signed by the Haryana Governor is the death knell for our forests. If notified that 60,000 acres of PLPA protected Aravalli forests and 10,000 acres of Shivalik forests near Chandigarh will be opened for real estate development. This amounts to a loss of 33% of our forests when Haryana already has the lowest forest cover in India — barely 3.62% as compared to the national average of 20%,” said Dr. Sarika Verma, an ENT surgeon.

“Additionally, at great risk of destruction are another 50,000 acres of Aravali forests that do not have protection of any forest law. This means that effectively, the entire Aravali range in south Haryana, amounting to more than 1,10,000 acres, will get impacted by this government move to implement the amended PLPA,” she said.

This amended bill seeks to make the PLPA totally redundant in Haryana. The retrospective provision since 1966 nullifies all notifications made under the Act since the formation of the State of Haryana.

“The PLPA Amendment Bill seeks to only benefit the real estate sector at the cost of forests, wildlife, water security, air quality and the health and well-being of millions of men, women and children living in the NCR cities, including our future generations and thus needs to be withdrawn by the Haryana government,” said Roma Vinayak, an entrepreneur.

‘Green lungs’

Aravali forests in south Haryana are Gurugram, Faridabad and NCR’s green lungs, barrier against desertification and critical water recharge zone.

“People have invested their hard-earned money to make the NCR their home but they never imagined that they would have such a low quality of life where the average air quality index remains over 300 throughout the year. The PLPA Amendment Bill is equivalent to a mass genocide as it will further destroy our negligible green lungs,” said Rahul Khera, another protester.

Anurag, a Delhi University student, who hails from Gujarat, said he grew up in the lap of the Aravalis and did not want it to be destroyed. To show solidarity with the Aravalis, the protesters held hands and took a sacred oath to be the voice of the forests and the birds, butterflies, mammals, reptiles and insects that live there.

“Awareness about saving the Aravallis is on the rise and the citizens’ movement is growing strong not just in the NCR but all over India with people in different cities joining the cause on Twitter [#AravalliBachao] and other social media platfoms. It remains to be seen if the Haryana government will pay heed and withdraw the regressive amendments in the PLPA,” said Neelam Ahluwalia.

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