The Aravali bio-diversity park is situated right at the entrance of Gurgaon from New Delhi on the MG road; Guru Dronacharya is the nearest metro station. This 600 acre site was once a mining and quarrying site in the 1990s and was converted to a mini forest by careful ecological conservation by a group of concerned citizens and the Municipal Council of Gurgaon
IAmGurgaon sent out a call to plant one million trees on this bare arid land which was then taken up by scores of school children and corporates alike. In 2011 when I moved back to Gurgaon, I too helped in planting a few trees here in the hope to see a green space take wings.
Through painstaking efforts of IAmGurgaon and MCG, this park took shape of a fully fledged green land where about 183 species of birds can be sighted today. Aravali park was officially opened on 5th June 2010 which is also the World Environment Day but work has continued in it since past 8 years.
A judicious selection of the native trees were planted here while the invasive ones were uprooted and removed. Drip irrigation system was installed to nurture the newly planted forest and two nurseries were set up to aid the plantation efforts. Recharging of water harvesting pits was also taken up to help raise the ground water table.
So much love and effort has gone into converting this barren land into a green paradise, replete with an amphitheatre where cultural shows are put up from time to time. It is a hot favourite amongst runners, bird watchers and naturalists who can be seen thronging this park on most weekends.
Imagine the horror inflicted on us when we woke up to the news of NHAI proposing to build a 6-lane highway cutting through the Aravali park. Disbelief over the blatant disregard by the authorities for environment and growing pollution threw the citizens into a tizzy.
About 1200 strong crowd gathered on Sunday 28th October 2018 at about 7 AM at the amphitheater to protest this ludicrous decision of NHAI. A group of artists had set up some hard-hitting posters on environment and pollution even as school children took the stage to voice their pleas to not destroy this precious green space.
Our sincere hope is that the government wakes up to the horror they are about to inflict on all of us by wrecking this green lung. Our cities have become hubs of concrete jungles and having a small slice of heaven in form of such a forest is a huge blessing. On top of this, North India struggles with poor air quality at the onset of winters every year. The farmers take to burning crops at this time and the winds blow the noxious fumes to Delhi NCR, decreasing visibility and air quality to an all time low.
Help up in raising awareness about this monstrous government decision to stop them from destroying our precious bio diversity park. We need for our voices to reach the right ears and in time.
#NAHItoNHAI #saveABDP #AravaliBioDiversityPark
Please do take a moment to sign this petition and help spread it to others – we all need to come together to save our forests today.
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Oh my god. Who makes these rotten decision? This park is so lovingly and painstakingly made… Just to think that govt wants to destroy this is heartbreaking. Not to mention the impact it will cause to the already dwindling air quality. I am with you in this one and hope with enough support the decision will be changed .
Exactly Raj- we are all so livid at the stupidity of the authorities. We are struggling with air quality at the moment – thanks to the crop burning in the neighbouring states. And now this! What sort of idiots are ruling this county – its insane. The Delhi CM has cut down thousands of trees on prime roads to widen them – its so so sad to see those beautiful tall and inspiring trees gone from the roads of Delhi – and that Idiot suffers the most from Pollution every winters. He is such an idiot!
We are all pulling at this protest and hope to make them change their minds. Thanks for supporting the vote- pls do share the petition to be signed for this! Every bit counts 🙂
Development is important.. But it should never come at the cost of our environment. We are already so much short of green space. Hope authorities wake up.
Yes thats our ferverent hope too; thank you for stopping by! 🙂
In the name of development, our natural habitat and greenery are being destroyed. Makes me wonder what we be left!
We are grappling with pollution nearing 1000 mark which is just ridiculous; permissible limit is a mere 100 – still we want to burst firecrackers and cut down trees. Insanity is ruling the roost in India at present!
The worst is violating SC orders and people suffering. We are in terrible mess with disregard for nature and everything equates to religion by dimwits!
I dont know how wise it was for the SC to step in with such an order when the basic adminstrative machinery is not geared up to implement such a law. There was so much firecrackers in Gurgaon that it was impossible to talk while it was going on.
I think we need stronger laws on pollution regarding construction, vehicles and felling of trees. Thats where we lack so much.
The recent killing of Avni the tigress was one such flagrant disregard of law becuase a huge corporate is involved- sad !!!
What a heavy price we pay for development! It is bad enough that we have done enough damage to the planet and then this! Sharing it!
Thanks so much Nanditha – I hope more of us wake upto this reality and fight to save our forests!