Environmentalists are deeply worried about the future of the Aravalli range, especially in Haryana, after the Supreme Court removed legal protection for hills less than 100 metres high. In its recent order, the court banned issuing of new mining licences but accepted a new definition of the Aravalli range submitted by the Environment Ministry. Under the new definition, low hills under 100 metres will no longer receive local relief or mining protection.
Experts are warning that this decision could expose nearly 60 per cent of the entire Aravalli system to mining. They say this would be disastrous for biodiversity and climate resilience across North India. Many have urged the court to rethink the impact of using a uniform elevation-based definition for such an ancient and fragile mountain range.
They say that destroying smaller Aravalli hills would break the continuity of India’s oldest mountain system and create gaps through which dust storms and the Thar desert could move further east. This would affect regions including Eastern Rajasthan, Western Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Delhi-NCR.
“What we are extremely concerned about is the acceptance of the uniform definition of the Aravalli Hills by the SC bench as this scrubby and low, help conserve biodiversity, retain water, trap heat and regulate the climate. Losing these hills to mining will worsen dust pollution, water scarcity, extreme weather and impact millions of people living in North West India,” said Neelam Ahluwalia, founder member of People for Aravallis.
The fears are strongest in Haryana, where the Aravallis are already heavily damaged. Environmentalists say that hills in districts like Charkhi Dadri and Bhiwani have almost disappeared after years of mining.
Dr RP Balwan, retired Conservator of Forest in South Circle Haryana, said the state’s frail ecology could collapse further. He pointed out that Haryana already has one of the lowest forest covers in India at just 3.6 per cent, and even this could shrink. Many notified forest areas lie on low-elevation hill systems that do not meet the 100-metre requirement. Removing protection from these areas would open scrub hills, grasslands and ridge forests to mining, undoing decades of conservation effort. He warned that the new rule could erase large parts of the Aravallis from official maps and leave them unprotected.
Experts stress that Aravalli forests play a vital role in increasing rainfall and preventing drought in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi. The region’s normal rainfall patterns depend on keeping the green cover intact and maintaining the evapotranspiration cycle supported by the Aravalli hills.
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