The Union Environment Ministry on Wednesday asked the states of Haryana, Rajasthan, and Gujarat to “strictly” comply with directions issued by the Supreme Court preventing the granting of new mining leases across the Aravalli range until a management plan is finalised.
Besides writing to the chief secretaries of the three states, a letter was also sent to the Director General of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), directing it to prepare a ‘Management Plan for Sustainable Mining’ that identifies “permissible areas for mining” as well as those that are “ecologically sensitive, conservation-critical, and restoration-priority areas within the landscape where mining would be permitted only under exceptional circumstances”.
The ICFRE is an expert body affiliated to the Environment Ministry. There has been no deadline specified to the body regarding the submission of the management plan.
A press release from the ministry stated that the ICFRE exercise would “enlarge the coverage of areas protected and prohibited from mining”.
Also Read: Govt ‘hell-bent’ on redefining Aravalli Range: Congress
The government has come under fire recently, with environmental activists and the opposition accusing it of opening vast tracts of the Aravalli ranges for mining, which would lead to irreversible ecological damage. The Environment Minister, Bhupendra Yadav denied the allegations and emphasised on protecting the region.
The opposition slammed the ministry’s latest move, calling it a “bogus attempt at damage control that will not fool anybody”. Congress party spokesperson, Jairam Ramesh, said in a post on X: “These are pious proclamations but the dangerous 100m+ redefinition of the Aravallis – rejected by the Forest Survey of India, the Supreme Court-mandated Central Empowered Committee, and the Supreme Court’s amicus curiae – remains unchanged.”
A 2010 report by the Forest Survey of India, reportedly estimated that only 8 per cent of about 12,000 hills exceed 100 metres and are therefore potentially open to mining. While the Aravalli range has been defined as all the landforms within 500 metres of two adjoining hills that are 100 metres or higher, a uniform definition of the Aravalli range applicable across all states and Union Territiories remains elusive.
A standard that has been in force in Rajasthan since January 9, 2006, is a regulation by a committee of experts, including representatives of the Union Environment Ministry, recommending that all states agree to adopt the uniform criterion of “100 metres above local relief” for mining in the Aravalli region.
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