Sensitive villages get forest status in Nuh

Sumedha Sharma

Gurugram, February 8

Hundreds of villages in Nuh have been included in the protect forest area as part of India’s largest compensatory afforestation (CA) project.

Will cover 26K hectares

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• The state is all set to bestow the protected forest status on 26,000 hectares of the Aravallis in exchange for the clearing of the rainforests in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands
• The project would include villages in Aravallis and its foothills in Gurugram, Nuh, Rewari and Mahendragarh, along with 11 villages in the Ferozpur Jhirka block that were declared illegal mining-prone areas

The state is all set to bestow the protected forest status on 26,000 hectares of the Aravallis in exchange of the clearing of the rainforests in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The project would include villages in Aravallis and its foothills in Gurugram, Nuh, Rewari and Mahendragarh, along with 11 villages in the Ferozpur Jhirka block that were declared illegal mining-prone areas.

According to the latest notification released by the Forest Department, the villages of KolGaon, Saimer Bassi, Ibrahim Bass, Beribas, Bhakdoji, Kherakalan, Shahpur, Pathrali, Agon, Reegarh and Biwan will now be part of the protected forest area of the Aravallis.

These villages fall in the sensitive areas where illegal mining is being conducted and the latest status would ensure their protection from such unauthorised activities and encroachments.

“With the protected forest status, no non-forest activity will be allowed here. This will ensure that illegal mining activities are curbed with more stringent laws. It will also be a deterrent for the land grabbers. Besides, afforestation would further improve the forest cover,” said a senior official.

The Nuh Police Department has lauded the move saying that it would help them put stricter restrictions on illegal mining that being carried out in Rajasthan and Nuh.

Ecologists have opposed the Nicobar project, most of which would lead to an irreversible loss of pristine tropical rainforests and wildlife on the island. Haryana was chosen for this project as it has the lowest forest cover (around 3 per cent) among all Indian states. The island is 2,400km away from state.

The process to identify the Aravallis land for FCA began in 2023 and 19,904 hectares of land has so far been brought under protected forest.

Activists have also raised questions on how compensatory afforestation in a North-Indian state would help reduce the environmental impact of the loss of greenery on an island off the country’s mainland.