GURGAON: The Haryana government is working on reviewing the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA), chief minister
Manohar Lal Khattar said on Friday, a move that is likely to start another debate around environment laws in Delhi-NCR since most of the
Aravalis
is protected by the PLPA.
Sections 4 and 5 of PLPA restrict any non-forest activity in 10 districts of Haryana, including Gurgaon and Faridabad —20,345 hectares of the total 27,304 hectares of Aravali land in these districts is notified under PLPA.
“There is a need to review a few environmental Acts,” Khattar said at a conference on environment at
Amity University
in Manesar. “One such example is PLPA. It is a 100-year-old Act and thus needs a review. While there are many areas that still need to be preserved, development has taken place in a few areas. Our government is open to review the Act as per its relevance in the current scenario,” he said.
In January 2017, the state government directed the 10 districts to verify the status of land notified under PLPA. In 2014, the
Congress regime led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda had filed a case in the
Supreme Court to de-notify thousands of acres categorised as “forest” by the apex court in a mining-related case.
It had said due to the “forest“ tag, the landowners had “ceased to enjoy any rights“, including using plots for agricultural purposes. “Thus, their proprietary rights have been taken away without any compensation,“ the government had argued in court.
Khattar’s argument is somewhat similar, if the goal is to push for more development activities in the Aravalis. Referring to the need for changing other laws, Khattar said
sand mining
from river banks shouldn’t be fully restricted. “Mining shouldn’t be restricted completely as it raises the level of rivers, which further leads to flooding. To avoid flooding, there is also a need to recharge groundwater,” he said.
Environmentalists fear a review of the PLPA could lead to de-notification of a large portion of the Aravalis. “Apart from notifying 500 metres of buffer zone around Mangar Bani, this government has not done anything to protect the Aravalis,” said Vivek Kamboj of Haryali, an NGO. “It is clear the aim of reviewing the PLPA is to serve the builder lobby.”
Talking about the relevance of PLPA, RP Balwan, former conservator of forest (Gurgaon circle), said, “The PLPA was brought into force to stop erosion of soil and allow groundwater recharge. Neither soil erosion has stopped, nor has there been any progress in groundwater recharge. So there is no need to review the PLPA Act.”
Rahul Choudhary
, a lawyer, said the government needs to get an approval from the SC to de-notify land covered under the PLPA.
Start a Conversation
Post comment