A day after the Haryana government notified the Mangar Development Plan, the ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) had written to the state asking it to put the plan in abeyance. The letter dated May 18 says that the plan should be stalled till the state prepares the district forest map. The ministry wrote to the state after environment activist and treasurer of Mission Gurgaon Development, colonel (retd) Sarvadaman Oberoi shot a letter to the ministry seeking its intervention for the protection of deemed forests in the Aravalis, including Mangarbani sacred grove. The activist said in the letter that the state government has plans to use forest lands for non-forest activities, including a mega tourism complex. The MoEF has cited some important judgments of the Supreme Court — taken in 1996, 2004 and 2011 — in the letter. Quoting a December 1996 judgment, the letter says that the apex court has asked every state to constitute an expert committee to identify forest areas, irrespective of whether they were notified, recognized or classified under any law. States were told to identify areas which were earlier forests but now stand degraded or denuded. Governments also had to name areas covered by plantations belonging to both the government and private owners. A copy of the letter is with TOI. In 2011, the apex court again asked states to prepare geo-referenced district forest maps with details of the location and boundary of each plot that may be defined as a forest. In September, the MoEF wrote to the chief secretaries and chief conservators of forests to draw and execute atime-bound plan for preparation of these maps. In its latest letter, the ministry has asked the Haryana government to expedite the preparation of such maps. “Going by the 1996 SC judgment, the Mangarbani area with dense tree cover is nothing but forest. Locals have protected it for generations since they consider it a sacred spot. So, any move to divert a portion of that land for non-forest activity is a violation,” said Tykee Malhotra, an environment activist who had first opoosed the Haryana government when it has planned a European Technology Park in Mangar. Government sources say if Haryana does not comply with the MoEF direction, the ministry can issue a show cause notice to the state. Moreover, it can raise the issue when Haryana approaches the Centre for getting approval for conducting non-forest activities on forest land. Haryana chief secretary P K Chaudhary was not available for comment.