Gurgaon: The central empowered committee (CEC) will inspect a site in Sector 58, adjoining Matri Van, as well as the state project on Friday to examine allegations that mature trees were cleared to make way for compensatory plantation linked to a luxury housing project. Environmentalists have alleged that the site was not degraded land — as required for compensatory afforestation — but already had vegetation.The inspection, scheduled for 3pm, by Supreme Court panel follows a complaint by environmentalists, who alleged that a plantation drive meant to compensate for trees felled for the project resulted in the removal of existing vegetation at the designated site. Punjab and Haryana high court had in Aug ordered that compensatory plantation for trees felled for the project be completed during the monsoon.While the plantation appears to have been completed, RTI documents accessed by TOI have raised questions about the condition of the land selected for it. Environmentalists claimed earthmovers were brought in during Aug to clear standing trees and prepare the land for plantation. “On Aug 13, we saw earthmovers pushing out mature trees. This isn’t adding green cover. This is clearing one patch to claim another. That’s a fraud dressed up as compliance. How can it be allowed to remove green cover first and then plant trees for CA?” asked environmentalist Vaishali Rana.Rana, who filed the RTI application, said the documents showed that around 3,000 plants had been planted by a developer for compensatory afforestation in the Matri Van area. She said the objective of compensatory afforestation was to improve the ecological condition of an area, not remove existing green cover and replace it with saplings. The disputed patch, activists said, was scrub forest dominated by Vilayati Kikar but supported wildlife and native vegetation. They alleged that clearing natural Aravali mounds and vegetation for plantation damaged the existing habitat.“This isn’t reforestation. It’s habitat destruction disguised as care,” Rana said. Environmentalists said compensatory afforestation should be carried out on non-forested, degraded land. They questioned the selection of a site that already had trees and vegetation.The CEC decided to inspect the site during a meeting on Oct 30 to establish the factual position and examine the issues raised in the application. Matri Van — spread across 750 acres along Gurgaon-Faridabad road — was launched on Aug 2 under Centre’s ‘Ek Ped Maa Ke Naam’ campaign. The Matri Van project was presented as a green space for the NCR. The land is notified forest, where vegetation clearance requires permissions under the Indian Forest Act and the Punjab Land Preservation Act. Plantation activities in the area are generally carried out manually.
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