Gurgaon: The centre govt has asked the Haryana govt to clear an encroached stretch of protected forest after finding that a private logistics company had occupied 0.0122 sqm more land than it had sought to divert for its proposed warehouse. It also asked the state govt to initiate action against those officials under whose charge the violation took place.The company, Freight System India, had sought approval for the diversion of 0.0058 hectares of the protected forest in Jautauli village in Haily Mandi for a warehouse of non-agricultural produce they were planning to build there. The approval had still not been granted when the central govt flagged the encroachment. The proposal was considered during the fourth meeting of the advisory committee held on May 8.According to the minutes of the meeting, the Gurgaon divisional forest officer had reported that the user agency had encroached upon 0.018 hectares (180 sqm) of protected forest land rather than the 0.0058 hectares that it had asked for. A forest offence report was registered against the company on Aug 23, 2024.The committee directed the state to restore the remaining forest land. “The state govt shall ensure that the remaining area (0.018 hectares – 0.0058 hectares) is made free from encroachment,” the minutes said.The committee also noted that the violation occurred while the forest clearance proposal was under consideration. Citing the site inspection report of the regional office, the minutes stated that “the activities carried out are violation of the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980 and not the violation of the Indian Forest Act, 1927,” and said the case would have to be dealt with under the violation provisions of the forest conservation law.The regional office further recorded that the user agency had paid a penalty of around Rs 18,000 for the violation. However, the committee imposed additional conditions before final approval can be granted.Among these, the company has been directed to pay “five times penal NPV for the extent of violation done plus 12% simple interest from the date of raising of such demand till the deposit is made by the user agency.”The committee also directed the state govt to initiate penal proceedings against erring officials under Sections 3A and 3B of the Van (Sanrakshan Evam Samvardhan) Adhiniyam, 1980 and submit an action taken report while seeking Stage-I compliance.The proposal involves diversion of protected forest land with a reported vegetation density of 0.3 (Eco Class III). No trees are proposed to be felled for the approach road.As part of the mitigation measures, compensatory afforestation has been proposed over 0.2 hectares of degraded forest land in Bandhwari village in Sohna, along with a plantation scheme providing for 10 years of maintenance.The project is expected to generate about 30 man-days of employment each during the construction and operational phases.After deliberations with officials of the Haryana govt and the regional office in Chandigarh, the advisory committee recommended in-principle approval for the proposal, subject to compliance with the prescribed conditions, including payment of penal levies, verification of compensatory afforestation and removal of the remaining encroachment.
