Faridabad: In Aravallis, razing of marriage palaces, farmhouses begins

Bijendra Ahlawat

Tribune News Service

Faridabad, August 10

Exactly six days after the end of the demolition drive at Khori, where over 9,500 constructions were razed, the Municipal Corporation Faridabad (MCF) today initiated action against the illegal occupation of the forestland, in the form of farmhouses and marriage gardens (palaces), in the Aravallis here.

Area along Surajkund road cleared

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JCBs deployed by the Municipal Corporation Faridabad demolished structures located close to the Surajkund road here on the first day of the drive on Tuesday. The drive came to an end without any protest or resistance around 5 pm

It comes in the wake of the Supreme Court (SC) order of July 23 in which the apex court had directed the removal of all unauthorised structures on the forestland.

Constructions in at least four banquet gardens, occupying 20 acres, were razed on the first day today, it was claimed.

Launched around noon, JCBs, deployed by the MCF, demolished the structures located close to the Surajkund road here. Hundreds of acres are dotted with farmhouses, marriage places and commercial activities in the area. The drive today came to an end without any protest or resistance around 5 pm.

Claiming that the action came after the owners failed to remove the structures after the issuance of the notice, Yashpal Yadav, commissioner, MCF, said it would continue in compliance with the court order. A total of 130 such constructions, spread on several hundred acres, have been identified by the Forest Department for demolition.

Though the authorities are set to submit a report of all such constructions on August 20 in the apex court, the latter, in its order on July 23, had directed to remove all encroachments within four weeks.

Claimed to be a challenge bigger than the drive in Khori, the authorities had been charged with failure in curbing the land mafia, which is reported to have occupied around 1000 acres of the forestland here. Revealing that the drive on Tuesday was taken up by the civic body against the constructions located on the forestland, Rajkumar, DFO, said a survey to detect all such constructions was expected to be over shortly. A notice had been issued to the farmhouses or illegal constructions that had come up on the panchayat land of Lakadpur, Kot, Manger, Bhankri, Anangpur, Mewla Maharajpur, Ankhir, Dhauj, Silakhari, Pali, Jamalpur, Gothra Mohabtabad and Badkhal villages, he said. The land was protected under Sections 4 and 5 of the PLPA Act.