Letter to BS: Gurugram at the brink of turning into a concrete jungle

Your editorial “Protect the Aravalis” (March 7) rightly spells out the grave dangers of the amendment to the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA). Especially in case of the small state of Haryana the “death warrant for the Aravali Hills” is truly a death warrant for the state. Already enjoying the dubious distinction of having “the lowest forest cover in the country at a suicidal 3.59 per cent” losing even one percentage point more would be a heinous crime against the people of the state. What could be a bigger tragedy than deliberately allowing the Thar desert to come closer to us, permitting more dust-laden winds to enter the national capital region and move our air quality index to doomsday levels, obstructing whatever pathetic little ground water recharging is happening at present and usurping the catchment area of our already almost dry lakes? History is witness to many cities ‘dying’ without water. Does the government want that to happen to the millennium city of Gurugram?

Builders will create more concrete jungles, sell them to people ever hungry for a roof on their heads, become richer and move on to other areas for exploitation. 

Miners will also find other such avenues. Politicians and bureaucrats will — only for some time of course — continue to survive in their cocoons before moving to their fallback options in the Alps or other such places. But where will the common folk go after having sunk their life’s savings in an apartment in Gurugram?

Our last hope — as always — is the mighty Supreme Court, which has quickly stayed enforcement of the sinful amendment to PLPA. Let’s pray that the “stay order” stays for good.

Krishan Kalra 

Gurugram