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On Saturday, as part of its campaign against unauthorised construction, the civic administration in Gurugram razed four unlawful farmhouses in the Sohna neighbourhood located near Damdama lake. The fifth farmhouse, which was located on the other side of the reservoir from where the bulldozers were working, was able to avoid being destroyed.
Following an order from the National Green Tribunal (NGT) to dismantle the eight structures erected unlawfully on the environmentally sensitive area, officials from the department of town and country planning (DTCP) carried out the demolition operation. The NGT had ordered the structures to be cleared. According to the sources, one of the shuttered farmhouses belonged to the Punjabi musician Daler Mehndi, while the other farmhouse belonged to the artist Mika Singh.
The authorities were responsible for the demolition of a total of sixty electric poles, four kilometres of boundary walls, seventeen buildings and temporary homes, and four kilometres of unapproved roadways. "Farmhouses and other structures that are not permitted to be there have been built in the reservoir region of the lake. Without obtaining authorization, they were constructed in the Aravalli range "Amit Madholia, a District Town Planner (DTP), was quoted as saying this to the media. Madholia stated, "In the lawsuit brought before the National Green Tribunal (NGT) by Sonia Gosh against the State of Haryana, this action was included in a compliance report. It is planned to provide the report to the District Commissioner."
In the Aravalis region, which is protected territory according to sections 4 and 5 of the Punjab Land Preservation Act and the Aravali notification, the Environment Act of 1986 makes it illegal for any form of non-forest activity to take place, including construction. This includes building.
In its ruling for the year 2020, the Green Tribunal noted, "It is against the law to build on forest land or in an area that is included in the Aravali notification; instead, this type of forest land has to be recovered. In light of the information presented above, any construction that was carried out on the forest area or the area that was otherwise covered by notification dated 07.05.1992, without permission from the competent authority (after the date of the said notification), is required to be regarded as illegal, and the land that was previously used for the forest must be restored."
