Gurgaon residents file plea in SC against jungle safari park in Aravallis

The petitioners said the activities within the Aravalli Hills will harm the ecology and also destroy the wildlife and its habitat in the mountain range

A group of Gurgaon residents have filed a petition in the Supreme Court (SC) against the construction of Aravalli jungle safari park in Haryana.

The petitioners stated that the activities within the Aravalli Hills will harm the ecology and biological diversity, and also destroy the wildlife and its habitat in the mountain range.

The jungle safari park, slated to come up on 10,000 acres of land in Gurgaon and Nuh in Haryana will be constructed in phases.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had said that the first phase will be completed in two years.

According to the petition submitted by environmentalists Vaishali Raba, Vivek Kamboj, and Roma Jaswal, Haryana has failed to realise the ecological significance of Aravalli Hills by establishing the safari park within it, according to a report in The Indian Express.

The mountain range passes through Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat.

The petition stated, "Aravallis with its lush green forests used to act as a green barrier and an effective shield against desertification. It acts as a water divide between the Indus Basin in the northwest and the Ganga Basin in the east, covering extensive areas of north India. Any obstruction and disturbance in the natural set-up will lead to large-scale changes in the areas adjoining north Indian plains and will be devastating for the environment. It will affect eastern Rajasthan, Haryana, Malwa region, western Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi.”

Under the project, the plan is to set up an aviary, a big cat zone, a herbivore zone, an exotic zone, and natural trails/tourism zones, according to the Indian Express report.

In the petition, the environmentalists cited instances where visitors have carried diseases that affected the health of animals.

The petitioners said that by introducing safari in the wildlife-rich habitat of Aravalli Hills, Haryana has failed to understand the implication of exposing the free-ranging natural population of wildlife to zoo-bred captive animals which are more vulnerable to pests and diseases.

The petitioners further added that the movement of a large number of vehicles is bound to threaten the wildlife habitat of Aravalli Hills.

They said that a massive real estate project like this one is not sustainable in that area sites due to the acute water crisis.

Meanwhile, tourism principal secretary M D Sinha had said that not more than 20 per cent of the Aravalli will be used for the project.