NEW DELHI: The final “2041 Regional Plan Draft” for the National Capital Region proposed to replace the “Natural Conservation Area” (NCZ) provision with “Natural Area (NZ)” and specified what natural features could make part of the new categorization. Going through this, a substantial part of the NCR area, including the Aravalis, which now qualifies for conservation, would fall out of the range.
Environmental analysts said 70-80% of the current NCZ would not be eligible for inclusion in the NZ. The NCR Planning Council, which released the draft plan, requested comments before finalizing it.
Depending on the project, the natural area will include mountains and hills, rivers and water bodies that are notified for conservation under central or state laws and recognized as such in land registers. The extent of these natural features will be identified and delineated by States as per the definition, using ground verification and income records.
The new draft plan also proposes that any changes in New Zealand areas, which have been approved by the NCRPB in the past as NCZ, can be made by the relevant participating state in accordance with the income records, to the satellite imagery and ground verification. This means that States will have the option to withdraw conservation areas already demarcated at a later stage.
Currently, almost the entire Aravali chain in Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan qualifies in NCZ, where construction is not allowed beyond 0.5% of the area and this only after obtaining prior approval from the Center. . Incidentally, the Haryana has not yet completed the demarcation of its NCZ.
In the 2021 regional plan, the NCZ covered all areas, including the extension of the Aravali ridge, forest areas, rivers and tributaries, large lakes, water bodies and water recharge areas. underground, regardless of the state of their land registers. Most of the forests in southern Haryana, which includes the Aravali region, are not notified forests, nor are these recorded as “forest” in the income records. But after a 1996 Supreme Court ruling that broadened the definition of “forest”, these areas are now treated as such and can therefore be conserved.
One such classic example is the sacred grove of Mangar Bani in Faridabad, which was declared a no-build zone by the Haryana government after a long goodbye campaign.
“The new project is a major change in planning. The entire hill from Aravali to Faridabad will be outside the natural area. Much of the area which is now treated as forest due to the Supreme Court order will not benefit from nature protection Area once government changes definition of forest Almost 70-80% of current NCZ area will not be eligible to be part of natural area Most Aravalis of Gurgaon and Haryana have been privatized and are not registered as forest in revenue records, “said environmental analyst Chetan Agarwal. The Center has proposed changes in laws to change the definition of “forest”.
A former NCRPB planner said the draft regional plan “does not look like a plan document, but rather a policy document”.
Over the past decade, successive Haryana governments have lobbied against the application of NCZ provisions in the region and despite repeated reminders from the NCRPB, it has yet to complete the delineation exercise. conservation areas.
Interestingly, the draft plan that circulated among states a few months ago for their comments specifically mentioned that the NCZ items as in the 2021 regional plan “will remain and continue to be retained”. He said: “A distinction should be made between ‘forests’ and ‘green cover’, in which areas now classified as forests will continue to be conserved, while the conservation of areas now designated as green cover areas will not be conserved. obligatory. ”