New Delhi: Much to the ire of environmentalists, the Haryana forest department took a U-turn on its previous decision and has declassified Faridabad’s Mangar Bani as a 'forest'.
According to the latest order, the vast tracts of forests of Aravalli range, including Mangarbani grove, would now be recorded as 'not forest'. Mangarbani grove is often considered as the last remaining virgin forest in Delhi NCR and held sacred by local villagers.
Earlier in March, it was decided to record the entire Aravali range as forest while carrying out ground surveys of natural conservation zones in NCR.
This latest decision of Haryana government to free up about 80,000 hectares of land is seen by activists and local villagers as a result of constant lobbying by builders.
Consequently after this order, the forest clearance regulations which currently prevent the lands from being diverted for any other activity would not apply on these lands, making it a cake walk for real estate and other industries to chop the forests to use the lands.
