Faridabad Municipal Corporation’s herbal park schemes hang fire

The initiative launched by the civic body to develop herbal/multipurpose parks or gardens within the civic limits have been hurdled by the clearance or approval from the departments like the Forest, according to sources. The civic body has been unable to start work on two such projects proposed in the past two years, it is revealed.

The Municipal Corporation Faridabad (MCF) authorities that submitted the proposal of developing a major herbal garden on about 10 acres of its land on the Surajkund road here at a cost of Rs 15 crore, a few months ago, has been hanging fire due to the non-approval of the project from the department of Environment and Forest of the state government.

“While the aim had been to promote cultivation and preservation of herbal and medicinal plants, the land selected had been lying in the midst of nature where the residents could be provided the facility of not only enjoying the nature but also the importance of having medicinal plants in their vicinity,” said an official of the civic administration.

As lack of adequate space made the civic body choose land lying vacant in the Surajkund area, the condition of acquiring NOC from the Forest Department has increased the problems, it is claimed. Hundreds of acres of land belonging to the MCF come under the PLPA Act (Punjab Land and Forest Preservation Act- 1900), according to the officials.

Another similar project proposed to develop a multipurpose garden on over 60 acres of land at Khori village near Surajkund has also been hanging fire on such grounds, it is reported. The area had been lying vacant and unused after removal of hundreds of encroachments in June 2021 on the directions of the Supreme Court. This area has also been covered under the PLPA Act.

With no work taken up and the land lying vacant, the civic body has to carry out drives to keep the area free from encroachment at regular intervals, reveal the sources.

Birender Kardam, MCF Chief Engineer, said the garden projects, worth around Rs 40 crore, proposed to be launched on the available land in the city have been submitted to the authorities including the Forest Department for formal approval.