Gurgaon district

At the time of the 2011 Census of India, 65.60% of the population identified their first language as Hindi, 23.28% Haryanvi, 2.35% Punjabi, 2.20% Bengali and 1.33% Bhojpuri.[11]

There are 4 Haryana Vidhan Sabha constituencies located in this district: Gurgaon, Sohna, Pataudi and Badshahpur.[12] All 4 of these are part of Gurgaon Lok Sabha constituency.[13]

The Gurgaon district is headed by an IAS officer of the rank of Deputy Commissioner (DC) who is the chief executive officer of the district. The district is divided into 4 sub-divisions, each headed by a Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM): Gurgaon, Sohna, Pataudi and Badshahpur[14]

The above 4 sub-divisions are divided into 5 revenue tehsils, namely, Gurgaon, Sohna, Pataudi, Farrukhnagar & Manesar and 4 revenue sub-tehsils namely Wazirabad, Badshahpur, Kadipur and Garhi Harsaru. Gurgaon district also comprises 4 Rural development blocks - Gurgaon, Sohna, Pataudi and Farrukhnagar.

Gurugram Leopard and Deer Safari, also Gurugram Wildlife Safari, will be established as an urban forest for Gurgaon city on 1,000 acres land in Aravall's foothills across several villages such as Gairatpur Bas, Sakatpur, and Sikhohpur. It will include construction of a greenfield 10-acre lake at the existing natural depression at Gairatpur Bas. Forests will be rejuvenated by plantiong the native trees. Safari will be developed, along the lines of Etawah Safari Park, in compliance of The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) regulations and guidelines. Safari and lake will support the wildlife, resident and migratory birds, tourist facilities such as boat rides and picnic spots.[16][17]

Gairatpur Bas lake:
Lake near Gairatpur Bas (on the Delhi–Gurgaon Expressway NH-48) will be in the natural depression which drains into Badshahpur drain and finally into Najafgarh drain (tail end of Sahibi River before it converges with Yamuna on western gate of Delhi's Red Fort). Gairatpur Bas lake collects the rainwater from Aravallis. Haryana Forests Department (HFD) has also been laying pipelines and making channels in the Aravallis around Gairatpur Bas depression to direct rainwater to the lake during rains. To make it perennial the treated water from Gurgaon's Behrampur Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) in Sector 72 will be supplied by a 3.5 km long pipe. Behrampur STP treats 17 cr ltr/day water, of which only 90 lakh ltr was in use, and remaining 16 cr ltr/day water was available for rejuvenating the wetlands of Aravali in Gurgaon and NCR.[16][17]

Significance - biodiversity and wetlands:
This area is rich in biodiversity, falls within the Northern Aravalli leopard wildlife corridor stretching from Sariska Tiger Reserve to Delhi, has several nearby wildlife areas such as Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary, Mangar Bani, Aravali Biodiversity Park, etc. There are several wetlands in Aravallis in this area, some of those formed in the abandoned open pit mines in and around the area and have significance for the migratory birds, including Damdama Lake, Badkhal Lake, 10th century ancient Surajkund reservoir and Anangpur Dam.[18] Locals frequently spot the leopards around Gairatpur Bas, who rarely enter human habitations. According to the Haryana's Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, there were nearly 100 leopards, including 18 cubs, in the Delhi-Gurugaon-Faridabad Aravalli Forests (South Delhi Ridge) in Sept 2019.[19] Earlier in June 2019, Haryana Forests Dept had engaged Wildlife Institute of India (WII), at cost of INR 40 lakh, to conduct leopard census both in Aravalli and Shivalik areas of Haryana, as 2016 survey was held only in Shivalik hills.[20]

Funds:
In Sept 2019, Haryana's Forests Minister had announced that they will allocate INR 300 cr for the project.[19]

Concerns:
Activists have raised concerns that there is lack of transparency in the plan.[16] Activists and locals also have concerns about the freedom of leopards. If Safari has any barricades it will confine the movement of free ranging leopards, they must not be placed in any enclosures as they are "already facing a threat of losing their territory because of the ruin the Aravalli forest has been facing over the past two to three decades."[19]

Conservation:
Haryana's Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, assured that "Once the DPR is ready, we will be in a better position to comment what kind of safari it will be. We will not disturb the natural movement, feeding and breeding of leopards. We are working in consultation with wildlife experts of the country and under the guidance of the ministry of environment and forest."[19] Since [Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has developed similar leopard safari near Jamnagar in Gujarat under Corporate social responsibility (CSR),[21] there are suggestions to engage RIL for their partnership, expertise and CSR funding in public–private partnership (PPP) mode to set up similar sections such as the "Forest of India", "Frog House", "Insect Life", "Dragon’s Land", "Exotic Island", "Wild Trail of Haryana" and "‘Aquatic Kingdom" and many more.

Current status:
As of August 2019 was that the GDMA will lay the water pipe by March 2020 provided DPR is approved by the GoH. By October 2019, forests officials had surveyed the area and sent two separate Detailed Project Reports (DPR) to Government of Haryana (GoH) for approval - once each for the wildlifie safari by forests department and for water pipeline by PHED Haryana and GDMA (Gurugram Metropolitan Development Authority).[16]

Gurgaon area has several natural lakes formed by the streams draining the Aravali hills in the area. To avoid the flooding various check dams, called "bund" or "bundh", were built.[22]

Deforestation, ruined state of some of the check dams and obstruction to the ephemeral streams due to random urbanisation and encroachments have led to flooding. This can be prevented by rejuvenating the johads (lakes) and existing check dams and also by constructing new check dams and artificial lakes. Following must be developed to prevent flooding and enable groundwater recharge, water for wildlife which includes leopards of Haryana, eco tourism and boating, etc.[22]

Summary of plan

• Summary of action plan: Following must be done:[22]
  • Badshapur drain needs to be deepened
  • Additional lakes needs must be built between Teekli-Badshahpur and Ghata-Kadarpur
  • Existing lakes at Bhondsi and Damdama and stream draining into these need to be rejuvenated i.e. deepened and widened
  • Existing check dams at Ghamroj, Ghat, Gairatpur Bas, Kadarpur, Jharsa, Ghasola, etc must be rejuvenated.
  • New check dams, such as at Pandala.

Detailed action plan

• Bhondsi-Ghamroj-Damdama catchment:
  It lies on the eastern and south side of the Aravalli on the south of Gurugaon.
  • Bhondsi lake, deepen and widen to rejuvenate this lake inside the Bharat Yatra Kendra (BYK) ashram of former prime minister Chandra Shekhar and rejuvenate all the channels from hills to this lake, it must be large enough to arrest the overflow from Ghamroj and other nearby villages.[22]
  • Ghamroj lake: greenfield lake construction and rejuvenate existing bund and channel to arrest the water from the eastern and south side of the Aravalli on the south of Gurugaon.[22]
  • Damdama Lake, rejuvenate the lake and build more upstream check dams,[22] and construct ponds for the wildlife on top of Aravalli which must be supplied by the solar powered silent pumps.

• Badshapur-Teekli-Gairatpur Bas catchment:
  It lies ion the Aravalli south of Gurugaon. Pandala and Gairatpur Bas streams confluence at Teekli and through the Badshapur (sec 66) drain flow through Khandsa (sec 37) and Gadoli (sec 37B) to Daultabad (sec 103) and Honda Chowk flooding all these areas. This requires rejuvenation of existing streams and bunds and construction of new ones at the following location.[22]
  • Teekli-Badshapur greenfield lake: a large greenfield lake must be constructed between Teekli and Badshahpur to arrest the water from Aravalli south of Gurugaon.[22]
  • Pandala, Haryana, greenfield bund and channels[22]
  • Gairatpur Bas, rejuvenate existing bund and channels, construct new if needed.[22]
  • Teekli, rejuvenate existing bund and channels, construct new if needed.[22]

• Ghata-Kadarpur catchment:
  • Ghata-Kadarpur lake: greenfield lake between upstream Ghata and Kadarpur to arrest the water from Aravali hills which arrives via the Gold Course and rejuvenate downstream lakes/johads at Jharsa and Ghasola.[22]
  • Ghata, Haryana,
  • Kadarpur,
  • Jharsa, rejuvenate check dams and streams
  • Ghasola (sec 49),rejuvenate check dams to prevent flooding at Ghata-Kardarpur.

Due to the rapid urbanisation in and around Gurgaon, there is rampant illegal deforestation and encroachments by people in violation of rules,[22] often in cahoots with corrupt officials.