900 hectares of Aravali foothills may be left out of protected are
Source: think environment, Date: , 2019
Aravali areas that enjoy any form of legal protection will get thinner. Haryana’s town and country planning department has directed all districts to submit a report on natural conservation zones (NCZ) but only after excluding ‘bhood’ (sandy foothills) areas. The exclusion of ‘bhood’, which helps recharge groundwater and is essential in slowing down aridness and desertification in Delhi-NCR, will open up hundreds of acres of land for commercial use. In places like Gurugram, Sohna and Faridabad, that would be a real estate gold mine and will bring a revenue windfall to state coffers through land licences. Should the government go ahead with it, around 900 hectares of land, now classified as ‘bhood’, will be left out of NCZ.