UT to Haryana: Does land in swap dead fall in eco-sensitive zone?

While speaking to The Indian Express, Chandigarh Deputy Commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh said, “The proposal is under consideration. We have written to the Haryana government on eco-sensitive zone issue. Now we will wait for a reply from them.”

On August 10, the Haryana government had submitted the demarcation report and non-encumbrance certificate on the land offered to Chandigarh. They made no mention of the eco-sensitive area even as UT had inputs about the same and wants clarification.

The land offered by the Manohar Lal Khattar government at Saketri is in exchange for the space the Union Territory (UT) is supposed to give for a separate Assembly building within its jurisdiction.

In the last meeting, Haryana officers had submitted the demarcation report and non-encumbrance certificate that mentioned that the land is entirely free of any encumbrance and physical structures.

The UT came to know of the eco-sensitive zone after a demarcation of the land was already carried out at Saketri village in July.

Demarcation over but ESZ issue remains

Officials of the Chandigarh Administration, along with those from Haryana, had last month completed a demarcation of 12 acres of land at Saketri village that was to be handed over to the UT. The land was being allocated to Chandigarh in exchange for 10 acres of prime land, which Chandigarh will be handing over to Haryana for the purpose of constructing its separate Assembly building.

As per details, the piece of land that is supposed to be handed over to Chandigarh is adjacent to Rajiv Gandhi Technology Park, commonly known as IT Park, a project that has been stalled by the Environment Ministry following the same reasons. The UT Administration had even installed small pillars on the piece of land -– numbered 1 to 18 – to indicate that the plot had been demarcated.

The Chandigarh Administration had recently decided to allot 10 acres of land in the UT on IT Park road towards railway station to the Haryana government. The land, many officials in the administration believe, is considered prime with high commercial value.

There have been reports that the piece of land that the UT will be getting from Haryana may land in controversy owing to its proximity to the Sukhna wildlife sanctuary/catchment area.

In order to support their point, some officials pointed out that an infrastructure development project conceived by the Chandigarh Administration on 110 acres of land at IT Park had already landed in trouble with the Union Forest Ministry refusing to give its nod for carrying out construction in the area.

According to details, the Chandigarh Housing Board’s general housing scheme that was coming up at IT Park -– which is adjacent to Saketri –- was rejected by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change that had said that “development of high-rise buildings near the (Sukhna) sanctuary would lead to disturbance in the migratory paths of the birds”.

Some officials privy to the development also asked why Haryana had to enter into a land swap deal with Chandigarh in the first place when it already had a vacant plot at Saketri that could have been used for construction of its new Assembly building.

How it started

Union Home Minister Amit Shah in July last year had announced the allocation of land for the Haryana Assembly in Chandigarh during the 30th meeting of the Northern Zonal Council in Jaipur. Shah’s announcement had come in response to Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s demand for the state’s rights in the existing Vidhan Sabha in Chandigarh that it shares with Punjab given the increase in the number of Assembly seats that will happen after the 2026 delimitation exercise.

What do ESZ norms say?

No permanent structure can be constructed for whatever purpose within the eco-sensitive zone. Up to 0.5 km within ESZ, no commercial construction of any kind is allowed. From 0.5 km to 1.25 km, construction of low-density and low-rise building up to 15 feet is allowed, while beyond 1.25 km, construction of new buildings, including houses, is allowed.