Gwal Pahari is a village dominated by Gurjar community in

Gurugram Gurgaon (pronunciation: �ʊɽɡãːw, officially named Gurugram (pronunciation: �ʊɾʊɡɾaːm, is a city located in the northern Indian state of Haryana. It is situated near the Delhi–Haryana border, about southwest of the nationa ...

Mandal in the

Gurugram District Gurgaon district, officially known as Gurugram district, is one of the 22 districts of Haryana in northern India. The city of Gurgaon is the administrative headquarters of the district. The population is 1,514,432. It is one of the southern distr ...

Haryana Haryana (; ) is an Indian state located in the northern part of the country. It was carved out of the former state of East Punjab on 1 Nov 1966 on a linguistic basis. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with less than 1.4% () of India's land ar ...

state, India.

Bandwari-Mangar bani hills biodiversity area

Forest

Bandhwari Bandhwari is a village in Gurgaon tehsil, Gurgaon district in the Indian state of Haryana. It is an important biodiversity area contiguous to Asola Bhatti Wildlife Sanctuary within the Northern Aravalli leopard wildlife corridor. Adminis ...

along with neighbouring villages of Gwal Pahari, Baliawas and Mangar Bani, which lies near the forest parts of Southern Delhi Ridge of

Aravalli range The Aravalli Range (also spelled ''Aravali'') is a mountain range in Northern-Western India, running approximately in a south-west direction, starting near Delhi, passing through southern Haryana, Rajasthan, and ending in Ahmedabad Gujarat. ...

, is an ecologically sensitive under threat biodiversity area dotted with disused mining pits. The floura, fauna and ecology has degraded and severely needs restoration by replacing the invasive ''Vilayati kikar'' weed by the 3-layer cover of native grass, shrubs and trees. This area lies in the habitat of

leopard The leopard (''Panthera pardus'') is one of the five extant species in the genus '' Panthera'', a member of the cat family, Felidae. It occurs in a wide range in sub-Saharan Africa, in some parts of Western and Central Asia, Southern Russia, a ...

s.Unhappy bani
downtoearth.org.in, 7 June 2015.

Restoration

To restore the ground water recharge, the Haryana government is building check dam in the hills of bandhwari forest. This will protect the water logging in the rain as well as provide the water for the wild animals of forests during the dry summer months.bandwari check dam comes up
Times of India, 2018.

Concerns: Waste-to-energy plant and landfill

A waste-to-energy plant on which the government has already spent INR300 crore is being expanded with another INR400 crore with two of sand mine pits to be used for dumping the untreated toxic waste, this has caused serious environmental threat to the sensitive ecology.Only 30 villagers turn up for impact study
Times of India, 2018. In 2017,

National Green Tribunal The National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 is an Act of the Parliament of India which enables the creation of a special tribunal to handle the expeditious disposal of the cases pertaining to environmental issues. It draws inspiration from India's ...

(NGT) asked the

Central Pollution Control Board The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of India is a statutory organization under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (Mo.E.F.C.C.). It was established in 1974 under the Water (Prevention and Control of pollution) Act, 1 ...

(CPCB) to the test the groundwater sample near Bandhwari plant as the landfill site has a stream of dirty black water pollution the aquafiers and leeching in to the forest in the area which is known to discharge industrial waste and construction debris in the Aravalli forests along the roads in Gurugram-Faridabad area.NGT asks CPCB to test groundwater sample near Bandhwari plant
India Today, 1 Aug 2017.

Pond rejuvenation

Government of Haryana The Government of Haryana, also known as the State Government of Haryana, or locally as the State Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Haryana and its 22 districts. It consists of an executive, ceremonially led ...

is reviving various johads of

. In June 2020, for the revival of

johad A johad, also known as a pokhar or a percolation pond, is a community-owned traditional harvested rainwater storage wetland principally used for effectively harnessing water resources in the states of Haryana, Rajasthan, Punjab, and weste ...

at Gwal Pahari, the estimates were being prepared to undertake erection of boundary wall, building a walking track around the Johad, clearing of bushes and planting of trees and to connect the seasonal rivulet to the johad to ensure it retains water year around.Gurgaon ponds will return again and the greenery will dominate
Jagran, 3 August 2020.

References