Act against Gurugram DFO: Environmentalists

Sumedha Sharma

Tribune News Service

Gurugram, February 6

Accusing the district Forest authorities of Gurugram and Faridabad of turning a blind eye to rampant illegal non-forest activities in the Aravallis, a group of environmentalists has approached the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, seeking immediate intervention.

The environmentalists claimed that they had been highlighting repeated instances of illegal activities and encroachment in the Aravallis since October 2019, but no action or deterrent was taken.

They claimed that they had highlighted illegal encroachment, tree felling, burning of trees, filling up of gorges, illegal electricity connections, road construction, digging of illegal borewells and disturbance to wildlife at Haidarpur Viran.

“All these non-forest activities have been reported, but the DFOs of Gurugram and Faridabad keep sitting over complaints while trees are being cut and land encroached upon. We seek action against Gurugram DFO for not acting on complaints,” read a letter by Vaishali Rana, Vivek Kamboj, Col SS Oberoi, PN Singh, Col Santpal Raghav, Rahul Khera, Roma Jaswal, Ramavtar Yadav and Zenith Choudhary.