Haryana Government Committee Suggests Redefining Aravallis

A Haryana government committee has advised officials to identify the areas under the Aravallis on the basis of Centre's 1992 notification, which only covers old Gurgaon district areas.

The announcement has prompted environmentalists to ask whether the provisions of the National Conservation Zone (NCZ) will not be applicable to Aravalli areas in Faridabad.

The revenue records only identify "gair mumkin pahar" (hilly areas which are uncultivable) while making no mention of ''Aravalli'', said the committee.

The committee, in a recent meeting, has advised the officials concerned that on the basis of a 1992 notification of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), the areas under the Aravallis should be identified.

A meeting of the state-level committee (SLC) was held under the chairmanship of Principal Secretary, Town and Country Planning, A K Singh, on August 9 for "ground-truthing" of the NCZ in Haryana sub region of the National Capital Region.

In the meeting, the district-level sub-committees, which also comprise deputy commissioners, were asked to identify the Aravallis going by the Centre''s 1992 notification, which environmentalists claim, will effectively keep "gair mumkin pahar" outside the NCZ and thus restrictions on construction activity in Aravalli areas in Faridabad will not be applicable.

"It has been noted that in the revenue record there is no term namely ''Aravalli'' rather there is only mention of 'gair mumkin pahar''. 

Accordingly, some of the districts have identified the areas recorded as ''gair mumkin pahar'', in revenue record, under the NCZ by considering the same as Aravalli", according to the observations during the SLC meeting.

A reference was also made to the minutes of the meeting held under the chairmanship of the chief secretary, Haryana, on March 3, 2017 wherein on the issue regarding identification of the Aravallis, it had been recorded that the "...government of Haryana may consider this notification in old district Gurugram (currently Gurgaon and Nuh) only and areas specified in the notification dated May 7, 1992 may be considered as Aravalli...".

"Definition of Aravalli may not be extended to other Haryana sub-region areas which are not defined in the Aravalli notification dated May 7, 1992 unless the same is done by MoEF&CC through a similar notification," it said.

"So, only ''specified areas'' in old district Gurugram existing on May 7, 1992 may be part of ''confirmed NCZ'' by virtue of being ''Aravalli'' and such areas of other districts may be excluded from the NCZ category, that is, from ''confirmed'' and ''yet to be decided...," it was observed during last month''s SLC meeting.

All the concerned district-level sub-committees were advised to identify the Aravalli as per the Aravalli notification of MoEF&CC dated May 7, 1992, which covers the areas of old Gurgaon district (as in 1992 only).

It was observed that the MoEF&CC, being the only legally competent authority, has rightly in its wisdom issued notification dated May 7, 1992 for the then Gurgaon and Alwar districts only.

However, noted environmentalist Chetan Agarwal feared that the move would open up the region for construction activity.

"This effectively means that all 'gair mumkin pahar'' outside Gurgaon is excluded including Faridabad, which is part of the Aravallis currently. This land can be taken up for any construction activity including for real estate," he said.

"And this has implications not only for Faridabad, but in Rewari, and Mahendergarh," he added. 

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