On October 31, 2018, the residents of Gurgaon came together to save the city’s green lung. Nearly 1200 people gathered at the Aravali Biodiversity Park in a show of strength to raise their voice against road construction through this revived forest.

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Sourojit Ghosal, Vijay Dhasmana, Pradip  Kishen, Swanzal Kak Kapoor, Zain Khan spoke to the gathered crowd to share their concerns and emphasise how vital the green cover was to the city’s survival. The crowd declared the 380 acre park as a ‘sacred forest’ and swore to stand together against its destruction.

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Over the last decade, iamgurgaon, along with the support of citizens, civil society organisations and other key stakeholders have reclaimed a mining site and converted it into a City Forest – the Aravali Biodiversity Park, Gurgaon.

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This lush green forest provides a much needed green cover in the millennial city that otherwise would be a mere concrete jungle. Today, this park is home to over 400 native plant species, unique birds (residential and migratory as of now 182 species reported from the park), many species of animals including nilgai, jackal, civet cat, jungle cat, mongoose, hare etc, a huge water recharge zone (recharges close to 20 crore litres every year) and is a green oasis for its citizens to enjoy.

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The road proposal by NHAI and GMDA across our city’s forest and will once again destroy this green oasis and threaten the natural habitat of this region.