Land-grab bid in Mangar again, 8 acres in Aravalis encroached

MANGAR: Encroachers have levelled eight acres of Aravali land in the latest attempt to colonise the protected area around Mangar bani. The grove is still awaiting notification as a forest, even though the Haryana government demarcated a 500-metre area around the grove in the Aravalis as a no-construction zone in 2016.

The land on which TOI spotted an earthmover on Wednesday is located in Mangar village and is also protected under sections 4 and 5 of the Punjab Land Protection Act (PLPA), 1900, which bans any non-forest activity in the area.
The encroached site is 100m away from the Gurgaon-Faridabad road inside the Aravali forest area. The forest department has confirmed the violation, but said it will investigate the matter further. "Movement of earthmovers is illegal in forests. Our guards are keeping a close watch in the area and we will take action accordingly," Raj Kumar, the Faridabad divisional forest officer (DFO), told TOI.
"This portion of the Mangar area is on the Gurgaon-Faridabad road and also comes under sections 4 and 5 of PLPA, where construction of any kind is not permissible. Further investigation is on," the DFO added.
Incidents of land grabbing are not rare in Mangar. People encroach upon forest land, usually after dark to avoid being spotted, even after multiple FIRs and damage reports filed by the forest department. This area is a wildlife corridor and such activities are hampering animal movement, officials said.
Meanwhile, a ground truthing exercise conducted by the state government in December found 6,793 unauthorised structures built on land protected under special orders issued under Section 4 of Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) in four Faridabad villages. As per the findings, 5,948 unauthorised structures have been found in Anangpur village alone, while 339 such structures have been found in Ankhir, 313 in Lakkarpur Khori and 193 in Mewla Maharajpur.
The Supreme Court, in an order on July 2022, directed the state government that "Before the action of removal of the illegal structures and action of stopping non-forest activities is taken in respect of the lands covered by the special orders of August 18, 1992 issued under Section 4 of PLPA, the competent authority shall afford an opportunity of being heard to the affected persons and conclude such proceedings finally not later than three months from today and submit compliance report in that regard within the same time." No such action, however, has been initiated so far.
In February 2016, 677 acres of Mangar Bani were demarcated as forest, with a buffer zone of 500 metres. The government has announced the buffer zone as a 'no-construction zone'. But encroachment attempts have increased in the area in the past few years. The Wildlife Institute of India, in a 2017 report, pointed out that the area has presence of wildlife and "thus is sensitive".