Residents of farm houses in the Ansal Aravalli Retreat and Golden Heights in the Gurugram district are facing demolition after the Sohna municipal committee served notices a week ago for construction on 'gair mumkin pahar' (non-cultivable land).
The notices were served to 450 farm house owners as per the October 23, 2018 direction of National Green Tribunal (NGT). They have been asked to reply within three days. Next case hearing is on June 19.
Why the farm houses should not be demolished for violating the Haryana Land Preservation Act, 1992 pertaining to 'gair mumkin pahar', the notices read.
"We have served notices on the NGT's direction and have received some replies. The replies are being studied. We will soon start demolition of illegal structures," said Attar Singh, executive officer of the Sohna municipal committee.
Reacting to notices, Swami Rajesh Wats, ex-RWA president of Ansal Aravalli Retreat and owner of Keshav Dham, said, "We are actually protectors of Aravalli hills, not destroyers. In the Raishina zone, mafias were mining the hills. They mined right up to our farm houses in night. But for our properties, they would have destroyed the area."
Farha, another farm house owner, said, mining mafias had destroyed the hills right under the nose of authorities. They had left behind large pits, she added.
"We have replanted and maintained greeneries. Over 2,000 trees of different varieties were in every farm houses. How would we be blamed for destroying the land and greeneries," she remarked.
Fransis Thomas Varghese, the priest of a church, said, the owners had paid stamp duty on registration as per the circle rates for agricultural land in early 1990 and the practice continued. "The circle rate is Rs 35 lakh an acre for of hilly areas and Rs 70 lakh an acre for farm land. Some farm house owners paid Rs 70 lakh per acre stamp duty recently," he said.
Verghese said authorities were charging stamp duties for agriculture land. "It's enough to show that farm houses exist on agricultural lands. Why are they serving notices."
The farm houses were developed and sold by Ansal Properties before 1990 under the Raishina zone of the Aravalli hills. Some registries belonged to pre-1992. Some of the farm houses have been sold multiple times to different people.
( With inputs from IANS )