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Reducing Aravali protection goes against past Supreme Court orders
The PLPA act was amended through a voice vote in Haryana Assembly and this effectively opened up 75,000 acres of forest areas, earlier notified under the Act, for development
Updated : Mar 01, 2019, 06:15 AM IST
 "Aravali hills and forests")
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The Haryana state Assembly's assent to the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) Amendment Bill, 2019, withdrawing protection granted to Aravali hills and forests, goes against past Supreme Court orders and will prove disastrous for Delhi-NCR's environment, senior advocates and environmental activists said.
On Wednesday, the PLPA act was amended through a voice vote in Haryana Assembly and this effectively opened up 75,000 acres of forest areas, earlier notified under the Act, for development.
Under PLPA, breaking of land that is not fit for cultivation, mining, quarrying and even herding of animals is prohibited. It was used to build a protecting ring around Aravalis to stave off real-estate development and to store groundwater.
"The passage of this Bill will accelerate desertification of Delhi-NCR region. Aravalis act as a natural barrier against incursion of dust from Rajasthan and exposing them to unplanned development will lead to more environmental degradation," said MC Mehta, senior advocate of the Supreme Court. Mehta is also involved in a long-running writ petition before the Supreme Court which has yielded five major judgments on protection of Aravalis.
The Haryana government had notified 4,227 hectares of land across 17 villages in Faridabad district and 6,700 hectares of land across 38 villages in Gurugram district under PLPA.
Legal experts and conservationists also pointed out that the Bill passed in the Haryana Assembly was contrary to Supreme Court's order. They pointed out that Supreme Court's orders passed in 2002 and 2004 had clearly stated that even if the notification of villages notified under PLPA expires, a forest clearance is required to carry out development work. Last September, the Supreme Court had also ordered demolition of the Kant Enclave residential enclave reiterating that land under PLPA forest and forest land and need to be treated as forest land.
"This amendment of the Act is actually a repeal and will drastically reduce the protection accorded to forests in the state," said Chetan Agarwal, an environmental analyst based in Gurugram.
