NEW DELHI: Municipal Corporation of Faridabad has issued six letters of intent (LOIs) to farmhouses that have come up in the Faridabad Aravalis that’s categorised as ‘forest’ in government records.These farmhouses and banquet halls also fall in the ‘natural conservation zone’ (NCZ) as defined in NCR’s regional plan 2021 that lays down strict restrictions on constructions prohibits land use change. The issue came to light after deputy mayor of Faridabad, Manmohan Garg, and some local Congress leaders got information about the issue of permits in the Aravalis.Garg sought clarification from the municipal corporation, following which a senior town planner from the corporation confirmed in a letter that six LOIs have been issued and fees for construction have also been charged from the builders. While the municipal corporation has said that these permissions are not final and that LOIs are subject to “adherence and fulfilment of all terms and conditions within a period of 30 days from receipt of LOI”, environmental activists say gates have been opened for land use change in the Aravalis.The Haryana government’s excuse for giving LOIs is that the Aravali land in question is still in the ‘yet to be decided’ category. The letter accessed by TOI reads: “It is also a matter of fact that the area which has been referred as a reserved forest is still under ‘yet to be decided’ category…as per high court’s directions the work for delineation of the said area is yet to be finalized.”It adds that all LOIs have been processed as per high court’s directions in various orders related to banquet halls and SC’s direction in a similar case in Punjab.A final letter of permission has been issued to a banquet hall after it received an NOC from the forest department.The letter indicates that fees in the range of Rs 11.55 crore has been charged by the municipal corporation for issue of LOIs and other permits.Garg alleged: “The municipal corporation has done a big fraud in this matter. Issuing these six permits is as good as permitting land use change in the reserved forest area. I have been told that huge sums of money have exchanged hands for permits issued to these big farmhouses. The corporation has also charged official fees for the permits. The problem is when enforcement people go to demolish the farmhouses, the owners can always move court because they have already been charged a fee that is absolutely illegal.”The letter also states that LOIs issued are “strictly in accordance with policy so notified and circulated by the state government”.“It is only on compliance of all terms and conditions by the respective applicants, including obtaining NOC from forest department to whom letters have been issued, further process as per regularization policy will be taken,” it adds.“These permissions violate the forest conservation act and the orders of SC and NGT. They also violate NCZ. How were these permits issued?” said environment analyst Chetan Agarwal.

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