GURUGRAM: The Haryana government is speeding up construction of a bund (check dam) along the Najafgarh drain, after farmers from eight villages threatened to boycott the general elections, if construction doesn’t start within a couple of months.More than 40,000 land owners in eight villages — Dharampur, Momdheri, Daulatabad, Kherki Majra, Dhankot, Chandu, Budhera and Makrola — said they would not vote if no decision was reached over construction of the bund in the nallah area falling in Gurugram. “Before Section 144 comes into force, we want the government to come up with a special ordinance and pass the proposal in the legislative assembly. If this is not done, all farmers will boycott the general elections,” said Rajesh Daulatabad, president of Parivartan Sangh, a not-for-profit organisation.Sources in the government said the revenue department has been asked to prepare a comprehensive report, which states more than 5,500 acres of land has been submerged with contaminated sewage over the last 20 years, and that construction of a bund along the drain in the wetland will help remove sewage water from the area. A preliminary survey was carried out early last month.In December, state forest minister Rao Narbir Singh proposed that farmers sell their land to the government at the market price, so that a bund can be built to prevent flooding in the eight villages.Environmentalists, on the other hand, have said that any kind of construction in the area will lead to destruction of an important groundwater recharge zone of Delhi-NCR, and accused the Haryana administration of backtracking from its promise to declare Najafgarh a wetland. Vaishali Rana Chandra , a resident of Valley View Apartments, questioned the rush to raise a bund here. “Any kind of construction in the area, and containing water to a limited area, will destroy the entire wetland and is disastrous for the hydrology of the area,” she said.“Most importantly, the wetland serves as an important groundwater recharge zone for Delhi and NCR, but the only thing the Haryana government is looking at currently is the vote bank,” added Rana, who has regularly raised concerns over the city’s declining water table.In 2016, the government had submitted a document in the National Green Tribunal (NGT) and to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), in which it promised to notify 120.8 hectares in Kherki Majra and Dhankot, near Najafgarh Jheel, as wetland (a copy of the document is with TOI). In another report (a copy of which is also with TOI) submitted by the Haryana irrigation department to MoEF&CC, it was mentioned that the size of the wetland in Najafgarh varies with seasons, and can go up to as much as 1,200 acres.According to an estimate, the jheel, 7km long and located on the Delhi-Haryana border, can provide 100 million litres of potable water every day to southwest Delhi and Gurugram. Since Delhi has already built a bund along the Najafgarh drain in the area falling in Delhi, the Gurugram part of the wetland is considered significant for water recharge in the region. The drain and jheel in Najafgarh are the only outlets for floodwaters from the city.

Stay updated with all the Latest Gurgaon headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.