GURUGRAM: For the first time this year, about 170 trees were found axed in the
Mangar Bani buffer zone on Saturday.
When nearby residents made a complaint to the forest department, they sent a team to inspect the
area and confirmed the violation. While the department had taken the logs into its custody, the offenders have yet to be apprehended.
“During our visit to the Mangar Bani, we counted 170 tree stumps. We also found tyre marks, which is evident that the tree cutting was going on for sometime. We called the forest department. While the department came and took the logs lying on ground into its custody, the offenders fled away,” said Sunil Hasrana, a resident of Mangar Bani.
However, the authorities have not prepared any offence report even 24 hours after the axing of trees came to notice. “We have taken the logs into our custody. However, the offenders fled before we reached the spot. I don’t think any offence report has been prepared yet,” said a source in the forest department.
Meanwhile, activists have been demanding a task force for weekends as most violations take place towards the end of the week, and authorities don’t take any action as staff is on leave.
“It has been noticed that the tree-cutting attempts are increasing in Mangar Bani due to lack of vigilance by the forest department over the weekend and encroachers about the same,” said Chetan Agarwal, an environmental analyst.
This is the fifth case of tree cutting in the
protected area in the last seven months. TOI reported cutting of trees in December, March and April which was done in order to encroach upon the land in Mangar Bani. Of five, four of the tree cutting attempts took place over weekends.
Mangar Bani is the only sacred grove in Delhi and NCR and is protected under the Natural Conservation Zone and general section 4. In February 2016, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced a 500-metre area around Mangar Bani as a no-construction zone but despite that encroachment and tree cutting attempts have been rampant.
Despite making several calls and sending messages, Ranbir Singh Dhull, district forest officer, Faridabad and D Hembram, conservator of forest, Gurugram circle remained unavailable for comments.
