GURGAON: Prior to finalizing the Sohna development plan, the state government has invited recommendations and criticisms of the first draft from residents and environmentalists.
The Sohna Draft Development Plan - 2031 was notified in the month of July this year, and by August, resident groups and independent activists from Gurgaon had made their objections to the draft more than clear. As it happens, those objections still stand and many of them remain unaddressed, even though the plan, which was made public on November 15, has now been finalized.
According to Chetan Agarwal, a Gurgaon-based environmental analyst, who was among the few who had pointed out the loopholes in the earlier draft, the concerns regarding forest land and zoning in the final version of the plan have only been 'partially addressed'. "They have put the forest land in the agricultural zone. Ideally, they should have taken the entire Aravali region and made it into a forest conservation and water recharge zone," he said.
Marking forest areas under the 'agricultural' category, according to zoning experts, leaves much room for exploiting the conserved land for commercial purposes. "Over 25 kinds of activities are allowed in the agricultural zone, and almost all of the agricultural zone activities are non-forestry activities," said Agarwal.
Earlier this year, a public petition against the proposed Sohna master-plan was also circulated on the internet, and was signed by more than 500 residents. Citizens' group Mission Gurgaon Development (MGD) had also raised similar objections. "I am completely dissatisfied with the final version of the Sohna plan," said Col Sarvadaman Oberoi, treasurer, MGD. He said that the plan does not identify the Aravali range as deemed forests. "Then they have given sanction to theme parks. When you have these theme parks, you will have to build hotels also. All these are shortcuts to building urban infrastructure."
