Jump to content

Forests Department, Haryana

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by CateFromArcadia (talk | contribs) at 17:34, 22 June 2020 (Fixed misspellings found by Wikipedia:Typo Team/moss). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Government of Haryana
Forests Department, Haryana
Agency overview
JurisdictionGovernment of Haryana
HeadquartersHaryana Civil Secretariat,
Sector-1, Chandigarh
30°45′40″N 76°48′2″E / 30.76111°N 76.80056°E / 30.76111; 76.80056
Agency executive
Websitehttp://haryanaforest.gov.in/

Forests Department, Haryana is a Ministry and department of the Government of Haryana in India.

Description

The Government of Haryana's Forests department runs and maintains many protected areas, including two National Parks, eight Wildlife Sanctuaries, two Wildlife Conservation Areas, four Animal & Bird Breeding Centers, one Deer park and 49 herbal parks.[1] Kanwar pal is the cabinet minister responsible for this department from October 2019.[2]

Forests in Haryana

India's forest policy mandates bringing 20% land under forest cover with the view to having total 30% area under forest cover, and Haryana only has 3.9% (1,584 km2) land under forest cover, which was further reduced by 79.44 km2 between 2014–15 and 2016-17 due to diversion of forest land to other uses.[3] Main forest cover lies in Sivalik Hills Range in northeast and Aravalli Hills Range in south of Haryana.

Biodiversity Board

Haryana Biodiversity Board was established by the government in 2018 to protect and preserve the biodiversity of forests, flora and fauna in the state, specially in the biodiversity hotspots of Shivalik and Aravali hills that are under threat. Forests areas of the state were digitized with the help of Haryana Space Applications Centre, Hisar and ISRO. Assets and plants monitoring system for managing forests, nurseries, trees, etc. had been made online.[4]

To protect the environment 2,200 community self-help groups and 2,487 village biodiversity groups were formed and 25,000 women were trained in 2018. MoU were signed with NHAI and Indian Railway to plant trees along national highways and rail lines, and a policy has been formed to establish city forests. A 50,000 hectare self-help community herbal forest is being established in SHivalik hills with the guidance of Baba Ramdev's Patanjali Yogpeeth. Trap cameras were set up in Kalesar National Park and 23 leopard were found. Endangered eagles were released in wild from the Jatayu Conservation Breeding Centre, Pinjore after successful breeding. Pipli and Rohtak zoo were being modernised.[4]

Administrative divisions

See also: Divisions of Haryana

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests head the Forests Department, Haryana, there are separate two divisions each for wildlife and forests.[5]

Forests zones

There are 2 Forests Protections zone and 4 Forests circles/divisions, i.e. 2 circles per zone. Each Forests Protection zones is headed by the Chief Conservator of Forests assisted by his subordinate Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) who head the respective circles.[5]

  • Forests Protection zone-1: Based at Panchkula, covers geographical northern half of Haryana.[5]
    • North Forests Circle/Division: Covers northeast geographical quadrant of Haryana including Shivalik Hills and down to Sonipat.[5]
    • West Forests Circle/Division: Covers northwest geographical quadrant of Haryana including Sirsa, Hisar, Jind.[3][5]
  • Forests Protection zone-2: Based at Gurugram, covers geographical southern half of Haryana.[3]
    • Central Forests Circle/Division: Covers central geographical quadrant of Haryana including Rohtak, Jhajjar, Charkhi Dadri, Bhiwani, Mahendragarh etc.[5]
    • South Forests Circle/Division: Covers geographical South Haryana including Faridabad, Nuh, Palwal, etc.[3][5]

Wildlife zones

There are two such zones, each headed by the Chief Conservator of Wildlife.[5]

  • Wildlife North zone: Based at Panchkula, covers geographical northern half of Haryana including Shivalik Hills to Sirsa, to Hisar to Rohtak.[5]
  • Wildlife South zone: Based at Gurugram, covers geographical southern half of Haryana including Charkhi Dadri, Bhiwani, Mahendragarh, Nuh, palwal, Gurugram, Faridabad, etc.[5]

Flora and forests of Haryana

Forests of Haryana cover less than 2.7% area of Haryana.

Natural Conservation Zones (NCZs)

See also: Conservation areas of India and Protected areas of India

In 2019, Haryana government passed the amendment to the Punjab Land Alienation Act, 1900 (PLPA), which had obtained ascent from the governor but has not yet been notified by the Haryana government, whence it is in limbo and has not become officially become a law. This amendment remove the legal protection for the large forest areas which act as green lungs and buffer zone against pollution, thus further degrading Haryana's ecology, biodiversity, air quality, water table recharge rate. Haryana government submitted a proposal to "NCR Planning Board" (NCRPB) to reduce Haryana’s Natural Conservation Zones (NCZs) by removing 60,000 acres of Aravalli land. After this Haryana's NCZ will decrease by 47% from 122,113.30 hectares to only 64,384.66 hectares.[6]

These forest lands proposed to be removed from the NCZ are mostly part of village common land, and after the legal NCZ status is removed these will become available for real estate construction and commercial sale. This is in violation of multiple guidelines of the Supreme Court of India which defines the forest by its natural definition. This also violates the NCRPB goal of limiting construction activities to mere 0.5% area of NCZ. NCRPB notification also clearly states that this original 122,113.30 hectares ecologically sensitive forest of South Haryana is a forest, "The major natural features, identified as environmentally sensitive areas, are the extension of Aravalli ridge in Rajasthan, Haryana and NCT-Delhi; forest areas; rivers and tributaries... major lakes and water bodies such as Badkhal lake, Suraj Kund and Damdama in Haryana sub-region".[6]

Green corridors

See also: The Great Green Wall of Aravalli and The Great Hedge of India

A 1,600 km long and 5 km wide The Great Green Wall of Aravalli green ecological corridor along Aravalli range from Gujarat to Delhi which will also connect to Shivalik hill range is being considered with planting of 1.35 billion (135 crore) new native trees over 10 years to combat the pollution, 51% of which is caused by the industrial pollution, 27% by vehicles, 8% by crop burning and 5% by diwali fireworks.[7]

2019 Atal Bhujal Yojana (Atal groundwater scheme), a 5 years (2020-21 to 2024-25) scheme costing INR 6 billion (US$85 million) for managing demand side with village panchayat level water security plans entailing johad rejuvenation (wetland) and groundwater recharge, was approved for implementation in 8,350 water-stressed villages across 7 states, including Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra.[8]

Fauna of Haryana

Leopards

Further information: Northern Aravalli leopard and wildlife corridor

The Leopards of Haryana, the largest predatory mammal of the state, are found in two distinct biospheres, in the Shivalik hill range in the north especially in and around Kalesar National Park and the Morni hills forest, and also in South Haryana in the forests of Northern Aravalli leopard and wildlife corridor. Haryana has nearly 100 leopards in Shivalik and Aravalli,[9] including 24 in Kalesar National park alone,[9] and 40 to 45 leopards in Gurugram-Faridabad Aravali of which 35 in Gurugram alone.[10] Large parts of Aravalli are legally and physically unprotected, with no wildlife crossings and little or no wildlife conservation work resulting in deaths of over 11 leopards in 4 years between January 2015 to January 2019.[11][12][13][14] In January 2019, Wildlife Institute of India (WII) announced that they will undertake the survey of leopard and wildlife, using pugmarks and trap cameras, subsequently leopards and jackals will be tracked via the radio tracking collars.[12] In 2019, the government of Haryana decided to fit all the leopards with radio tracking collars so that their hunting patterns can be studied and the human animal conflicts can be avoided by rescuing leopards straying in human habitations.[10]

Increasing number of leopards

According to Wildlife Institute of India (WII) study in 2017, the number of leopards have increased in the forested areas of Aravali in Gurugram and Faridabad, from almost virtually none in 1980s to 40 to 45 leopards.[10] This area also has high concentration of 27 species of 14 families of wild animals such as hyena, jackal, wolf, fox, jungle cat, mongoose, civet, porcupine, hare, wild pig, rhesus macaque, nilgai, grey francolin and chinkara in the rapidly degrading ecosensitive areas of Raisina, Manesar, Nuh, Mohamadpur Ahir, Bhondsi, Damdama, Mangarbani and Mandawar.[10] Northern Aravalli leopard and wildlife corridor between from Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan to Delhi Ridge is a 200 km long important biodiversity and wildlife corridor which is a habitat for the Indian leopards and jackals of Aravalli, who often migrate between Delhi and Sariska, but the urban development, specially the highways and railways bisecting the Aravalli range and wildlife corridor in several place pose a great risk.[12] According to a 2019 study by Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) at the Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary, 27 species of 14 families are found in the area, the number of golden jackal has doubled from 8 to 19 in 8 km tract where rodents and hares are their prey base along with the staple diet of zizipus jujube (jhad ber), ruddy mongoose and jungle cats are often sighted too, though striped hyena have been vanishing.[15] Leopards pugmarks have often been sighted at "Asola Bhatti wildlife sanctuary" and the contiguous forested areas of Gurugram-Faridabad Aravalli hills such as Mangar Bani, Badkhal Lake wildlife area, Mohbtabad, Roj ka Meo.[12]

High leopard death rate caused by humans

According to a study by WII, Wildlife Conservation Society and the National Centre for Biological Sciences the number of leopard has decreased by 80% in last 100 years in India.[16] According to Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) 500 leopards died in India in 2018.[10] 11 leopards were killed over 4 years in Gurugram due to the increased human-animal conflict after leopards strayed in human habitations as there is scarcity of water in summer months and the man-made drinking water pits for animals in Aravallis remain empty as the water from the pipeline is misused illegally used for other construction activities.[11] In 2019 alone, 2 leopards were killed in Gurugram, one each in Mandawar and on Gurugram-Faridabad road, a third one in Uttamwala village near Kalesar National Park.[10] Gurugram-Faridabad Highway bisects these forested wildlife areas, which often results in the accidental death of wildlife including leopards.[12] Large parts of Aravalli are legally and physically unprotected, with no wildlife passages and little or no wildlife conservation work, resulting in deaths of over 11 leopards in 4 years between January 2015 to January 2019.[11][12][13][14] Leopards often stray into human habitation, such as along the Golf Course Road and Gurugram-Faridabad Road, as this whole area is part of Northern Aravalli leopard and wildlife corridor, consequently Haryana government has been running awareness camps in the villages to deal with the human-animal conflicts.[10]

Gurugram leopard safari

Gurugram leopard and deer safari, similar in concept to the Etawah Safari Park,[17] is being implemented in 1000 acre city forest near sector 76 at Sakatpur and Garat Pur Bas villages in Aravalli hills of Gurugram, in September 2019 panchayat had already approved the transfer of panchayat common land to the wildlife department.[18][19][20] Government is also developing a new lake in 10 acres natural depression of Gairatpur Bas 10 km from Rajiv Chowk on the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway by piping treated sewage water from the Behrampur sewage treatment plant (STP) in Sector 72 through a 3.5 km pipeline as the nearby Damdama Lake dries up in summers and also needs rejuvenation.[21]

Other leopard safaris in India are at Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai,[22] "Bengal Safari Park" at Siliguri near Gorumara National Park ,[23] and in Gujarat at Surat district at Khodamba village of Mandvi taluka with 35 leopards in 50 hectare as well as Dangs district at Waghai taluka with 54 leopards in 35 hectares.[24]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Parks, Reserves and Other Protected Areas in Haryana". Haryana Forest Department. Archived from the original on 1 May 2015. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  2. ^ Bajwa, Harpreet (29 October 2014). "New CM Khattar Keeps Home, Abhimanyu Finance & Revenue". Indian Express. Retrieved 10 January 2015.
  3. ^ a b c d Haryana diverted most forest land, now wants money for afforestation, Business Standard, 18 Jan 2018.
  4. ^ a b Kirishi Samvad, Oct 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Haryana Forests Manual
  6. ^ a b Law changes bring Aravalli conservation to the fore, Hindustan Times, 22 December 2019.
  7. ^ Want govt to build 1600 km green wall along Aravalli, Indian Express, 24 December 2019.
  8. ^ Centre approves Rs 6,000 crore scheme to manage groundwater, Times of India, 24 December 2019.
  9. ^ a b Radio collars to be put on leopards in Haryana, 24 December 2019.
  10. ^ a b c d e f g There may be an increase in leopard population in Gurugram, Millennium Post, 7 Aug 2019.
  11. ^ a b c Gurugram: 11 leopards killed in 4 years, Millennium Post, 1 February 2019.
  12. ^ a b c d e f Death, proof of leopard life in Asola sanctuary, Hindustan Times, 31 Jan 2019.
  13. ^ a b 10-month-old leopard found dead on Gurugram-Faridabad Expressway, India Today, 31 Jan 2019.
  14. ^ a b Leopard killed in accident on Gurugram-Faridabad road, Times of India, 30 Jan 2019.
  15. ^ Golden jackal numbers double in Asola, Times of India, 16 February 2019.
  16. ^ Protect the spots Leopards in crisis, Millennium Post, 3 February 2018.
  17. ^ इटावा सफारी पार्क की तर्ज पर गुरुग्राम में बनेगी लैपर्ड सफारी, चुनाव से पहले शुरू होगा काम, Jagran, 12 August 2019.
  18. ^ Haryana to develop Leopard and Deer Safari scheme in Aravalli Hills, Daily Pioneer, 14 August 2019.
  19. ^ Proposal for leopard safari in Gurugram to be ready by next month, Hindustan Times, 19 September 2019.
  20. ^ Residents oppose ‘illegal’ land transfer for Gurugram forest, India Times, 11 December 2019.
  21. ^ Govt plans 10-acre lake in foothills of Aravallis, Hindustan Times, 19 August 2019.
  22. ^ Sanjay Gandhi Park to have leopard safaris, 28 December 2015.
  23. ^ Rare white tiger among three cubs born, Times of India, 20 May 2018.
  24. ^ Surat & Dangs Tourism push: Leopard safari parks, rescue centres in the offing, 6 February 2019.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Forests_Department,_Haryana&oldid=963940449"