Gurgaon: Fifteen farmhouses spread over 30 acres of Aravali land were demolished on Thursday.The demolition — following directions of National Green Tribunal (NGT) to get rid of all illegal structures in areas that are under Aravali Notification — was carried out by municipal council of Sohna.

A duty magistrate was appointed by the district administration. A Sohna civic body official said, "We have notices and we are carefully hearing all the parties before carrying out demolition."

According to a forest department survey, at least 500 farmhouses have been built illegally on Aravali land in Gurgaon, concentrated in areas like Gwalpahari, Abheypur, Gairatpur Bas, Sohna, Raisina and Manesar. Demolitions were carried out in Raisina last week. Environmentalists said despite various demolition drives, the area is witnessing encroachment on a massive scale. Col SS Oberoi (retd), an environmentalist, said, "NGT in 2022 directed that illegal construction be razed and the area be restored, which has not yet happened.""These sporadic demolition drives will never address the issue of encroachment. The debris should be removed by the illegal farmhouse owners or by the cost of the owners so that they do not use the same material to rebuild the structures again," Oberoi said.

On Dec 9, 2022, NGT instructed Haryana and Rajasthan govts to set up monitoring committees for quarterly reviews of encroachment clearance in ‘gair mumkin pahar' areas in Gurgaon, Faridabad, Nuh and Alwar. The district administration carried out demolitions on Nov 13, but unauthorised activities still persist. The tribunal also instructed chief secretaries of both states to ensure compliance with the directions. The directives were issued by an NGT bench comprising chairman Adarsh Kumar Goel, judicial member Sudhir Agarwal and expert members A Senthil Vel and Afroz Ahmad.The 1992 Aravali notification restricts building construction, wall erection, road development and tree felling in protected areas without authorisation. Non-forest activities are prohibited on ‘gair mumkin pahad' land.