A team of the Municipal Council of Sohna demolished nine illegal farmhouses built on the Aravalli mountain range at Raisina village of Gurugram on Wednesday.

The demolition was carried out under Section 4 of the Aravalli Notification which says that the hills cannot be used for any purpose other than a plantation. This was done in compliance with a National Green Tribunal (NGT) order of December 2020, which instructed that all such establishments built on the Aravalli range of Gurugram be razed by January 31. A similar drive against unlawful structures in Manesar had been conducted on January 29 by the forest department of Gurugram.

According to the officials, the drive began at 1.00 pm and it took several hours to raze the nine illegal structures with the help of earthmovers. Apart from the municipal council officials, 100 police personnel were also present on the spot.

"Earlier a demolition notice was served to the owners of these illegal structures. Two of the farmhouse owners claimed that they had some legal documents for their properties so we have given them two days to produce those papers. More action against such illegal structures will be taken next week after an appointment of a duty magistrate," Praveen Raghav, an official of the Municipal Council of Sohna said.

As per a recent forest department survey, there are at least 500 such farmhouses built illegally on the Aravalli range in Gurugram and these are concentrated in areas like Gwal Pahari, Gairatpur Bas, Sohna and Manesar.