gurugram a day after the haryana government passed the controversial punjab land preservation haryana amendment act plpa in the legislative assembly hundreds of residents in gurugram and faridabad gathered near huda city centre metro station and launched a roundtheclock protest seeking to renotify the amended bill which has opened thousands of acres that were protected as forest under the act since 1900carrying placards to educate commuters on the importance of plpa the residents claimed they would continue the protest till the government renotifies the act in the stateour misinformed chief minister on wednesday said the amended bill was in the interest of the people of haryana we completely disagree with his statement as destruction of forests can never be propeople the tweaked bill will only benefit a few land owners and farmhouse owners unfortunately the government is not willing to understand people who have bought large land holdings in the forests through fraudulent ways are not economically poor said jitender bhadana of save aravali an environmental ngoprotesters also alleged the government didnt seek publics opinion before going ahead with the amendment to plpa there has been no public consultation on plpa despite this the decision is going to impact our right to life as preserved in the constitution the bill is a gross violation of article 21 of the constitution which clearly states no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty said vinita singh a resident of sector 50several people from delhi and other parts of haryana also joined the protest we are concerned about the environment my 16yearold son is suffering from multiple respiratory diseases the situation is already alarming if we lose the aravalis the region will be left with no forest said rhythm bhatnagar a resident of delhis chhattarpursiddharth verma who reached the protest site from faridabad alleged that the haryana government took the controversial step to appease the real estate lobby before upcoming elections i dont understand how plpa violates the right of ownership in haryana but not in punjab the intent is clearly to lure the realtors who eat into the aravalis and carry out constructions illegally he saidthe protesters are also using social media and other online platforms to raise their concerns over the threat to the aravalis in the wake of amendments made to plpa we have been trying to gather support both online too there are already over 6500 signatories on changeorg to sign a petition against the plpa amendments we are also getting a lot of support on twitter said sanjay rao an environmental activist