For as long as the Bani (grove) has been around, villagers have helped safeguard it with the help of a robust community management system. So successful have they been as custodians that the grove has remained out of bounds for real estate, and the hills here have been prudently used for fodder and firewood, and used for grazing by the pastoral Gujjars, who know the lie of the land.
This community believes the Bani is protected by the benign spirit of Gudariya Baba, who lived in the village long, long ago. They say any attempt to cut or even trim trees invites his retribution.
“We don’t remember any incident when trees were felled by the locals in the Bani,” said Fateh Singh, a 90-year-old resident of Mangar. “Firewood collection was restricted to certain areas and only thin branches were allowed
to be cut, to maintain tree structure and a healthy (and) full tree canopy,” Singh added.
“The ownership of the sacred grove slipped out of the hands of the community only after the intervention of outsiders, and the boom in the real estate sector.” Sadly, there have been no attempts by successive state governments to protect this forest from the designs of land sharks.
The lie of the land
Of the 4,262 acres of land in Mangar village, around 3,810 acres fall under the category of ‘gair mumkin pahar’ (uncultivable land). Because this stony, hilly terrain was ‘uncultivable’, agricultural activity hasn’t been possible here, and thus the land hasn’t provided any revenue to the state. Only around 1,132 acres in the village are notified under sections 4 and 5 of the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) 1900, and 1,116 acres are marked under the category of ‘Aravali Plantation’ (plantation carried out in
Haryana under the European Union-funded Aravalli Project, during the 1990s).
The entire ‘gair mumkin pahar’ (uncultivable hill) tract is today privately owned, leaving aside only half an acre for the village panchayat. This is because during the 1980s, the area was carved up into one-acre plots by the Haryana revenue authority, and villagers were forced to sell their share of land. Over the years, the land was then sold and resold.
“In 1985-86, at the end of the ‘chakbandi’ (consolidation) process, the Aravali hills of Mangar village were divided into one-acre plots on the ‘shajra’ (revenue map), and these were allotted to individual shareholders. It was unfortunate that even the sacred forest of the
Mangar Bani was not set aside from the pool of land that could be sold,” Chetan Agarwal, an environmental analyst, said. “The Consolidation Act, a law to end fragmentation of agricultural fields and panchayat common lands, was illegally used to accumulate large landholdings. These landholdings were then sold to individuals,” he added.
No longer hallowed ground?
While attempts by the Haryana government to sell the Bani to developers have drawn sharp criticism from villagers and environmentalists, doubts have persisted over the status of Mangar Bani.
The authorities have never identified the Bani as a protected area. There was no reference to Mangar Bani in any of the old gazetteers of Gurugram district, or in any revenue record. Survey of India maps mention the area as a ‘medium density’ scrub forest, though Mangar Bani possesses a unique ecological DNA.
In 1982, the first draft of a plan was prepared, and many drafts have been presented over the years. In 2011, there was an attempt to publish the Mangar Draft Development Plan, which not only ignored the existence of Mangar Bani, but proposed to allow construction in the area and also create ‘mega tourism zones’.
The draft was ridiculed by both locals and environmental activists. In 2012, environmentalists wrote to the ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC). Fortunately, the ministry pointed out to the state government a series of violations of Supreme Court judgments in the plan. So, the Mangar Development Plan 2031 was kept in abeyance until the exercise of identifying forests was carried out.
Why the Bani must be protected
Because it boasts rich biodiversity, plays a role in conserving the genes of the flora, enables recharge of groundwater, and helps regulate climate and monsoon patterns in the region, there is an urgent need to preserve the Bani at all costs.
According to quantitative vegetation analysis carried out by the forest department around four years ago, Mangar was shown to have a total of 5,99,889 trees. In the census, only trees of and above a certain girth were included, meaning that there were many more, smaller, trees. The data demonstrated the ecological value of this patch of forest.
Mangar Bani, said RP Balwan — former conservator of forests, Gurugram Circle — has a “distinct” geo-ecological formation, and is also a micro-watershed. “The dense green patch not only releases more oxygen into the air, but acts as a sink for carbon. Moreover, it is important for biodiversity, gene preservation and genetic pool conservation. As the forest contains diverse flora and fauna, it harbours great genetic diversity,” said Balwan.
Sohail Madan of the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) calls attention to the grove’s rich biodiversity. “Mangar Bani hosts as many as 10 carnivore species, including leopards, hyenas, civet cats and jackals. Moreover, 90 species of butterflies and at least 180 species of birds are seen in Mangar —some of the bird and butterfly species are rarely seen outside Mangar,” he said.
Finally, a buffer zone
In June 2016, after a campaign lasting many years, the villagers and greens finally got the state government to notify Mangar Bani as a ‘no construction zone’ (NCZ). Through a gazette notification, the department of town and country planning demarcated and notified an area of 656 acres as the core area of the Bani, and 997 acres were designated as a buffer of 500 metres all around the ‘core’. This buffer zone was declared out of bounds for construction.
However, the issue of ownership of Mangar Bani remains unresolved. And even after the buffer zone was notified, tree felling continues to be reported from the area.
“The problem is that it is still not clear who owns the Bani and the buffer zone. The ownership still lies with the individuals and builders,” said Balwan. “Notifying the entire Mangar Bani as ‘deemed forest’ is, therefore, the only way to protect the last remaining virgin forest in Delhi-NCR,” he adds.
Indeed, if Mangar Bani is not saved, not only will Delhi and the National Capital Region, already facing a host of environmental threats, lose an old and valuable green lung, the traditions of custodianship of the forest will, unfortunately, likely go the way of all the other local customs.
Mangar Bani
