March 12, 2014
NEW DELHI: Around 150 trees have reportedly been felled in the densely forested parts of Mangar, off the Gurgaon-Faridabad highway, which is one of the few pristine spots left in the Aravalis in Haryana. Villages say the timber is being transported out in trucks.
March 12, 2014
NEW DELHI: Around 150 trees have reportedly been felled in the densely forested parts of Mangar, off the Gurgaon-Faridabad highway, which is one of the few pristine spots left in the Aravalis in Haryana. Villages say the timber is being transported out in trucks.
The area where the alleged felling has take place is close to Mangar Bani, a grove within Mangar that is held to be sacred by locals.
Former village committee member, Sunil Harsana, has taken GPS readings of the places where trees have been felled over the last four-five days. "I have got readings of at least 150 trees where only stumps are left now. I am not sure if the locals are doing this," said Harsana.
However, area divisional forest officer Bhoop Singh Yadav denied there was any felling of trees in Mangar. Villagers said they had complained to the forest department but did not get any response.
Activists say large-scale tree felling has taken place several times in the forested Mangar area. Activists such as Harsana feel this could be an attempt to make the area look denuded so that no policy is initiated to protect Mangar Bani as a "forest".
Land in Mangar is largely under private ownership with huge tracts of forested land owned by real estate companies. It is not categorized as forest land but has all the features of a forest, such as a thriving wildlife that includes leopards, jackals and rare birds. The Snow Leopard Trust has documented cases of cattle kill by leopards, according to Harsana. Mangar also acts as a corridor for animals from the Asola Bhatti sanctuary, which has a protected status, and also acts as an important groundwater recharge zone for Delhi.
The NCR regional plan, which was has been finalized recently, could have acted as a safeguard for the Mangar forest but the National Capital Regional Planning Board (NCRPB) removed an important clause that limited constructions to 0.5% in ecologically sensitive zones including Aravalis.
The Prime Minister's office had recently written to the urban development ministry asking them not to approve such a plan without addressing environmental concerns. The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) and the Delhi CM's office (during Arvind Kejriwal's tenure) had also written to Haryana government about this. to reach those heights
Courtesy: TNN
