New Delhi, Dec 23 : Senior Congress leader and former Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday raised strong objections to recent clarifications by Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupender Yadav on mining activities in the ecologically fragile Aravalli mountain range.
Ramesh questioned the ministry’s claim that only 0.19 per cent around 277 sq km of the total 1.44 lakh sq km area linked to the Aravallis would be open to mining. He argued that the figure is misleading, as it is calculated using the combined land area of 34 districts across four states, rather than the actual geographical spread of the Aravalli hills.
“The minister says 0.19 per cent of 1.44 lakh sq km is under mining leases, which translates to about 68,000 acres that itself is a significant area,” Ramesh said. “But this percentage becomes a serious underestimate when one considers the actual Aravalli landscape instead of entire districts.”
Highlighting available data from 15 districts, Ramesh noted that the Aravallis account for nearly 33 per cent of the land area there. He expressed concern over the absence of clarity on how much of this region could lose legal protection under the proposed redefinition, potentially opening it up to mining and commercial development.
Ramesh also warned that using local land profiles as a benchmark could exclude several hills above 100 metres from protection. “Such an approach would leave large parts of the Delhi-NCR’s hilly terrain vulnerable to unchecked real estate activity, worsening environmental stress,” he said.
Criticising proposals to redraw the boundaries of the Sariska Tiger Reserve to permit mining, Ramesh cautioned that fragmenting an interconnected ecosystem would severely undermine its ecological value. “This kind of fragmentation has already caused irreversible damage in other regions,” he added.
Calling the Aravallis a critical ecological barrier and a vital part of India’s natural heritage, Ramesh questioned the government’s intent behind redefining the range. “Why is there such urgency to dilute protections? Whose interests are being served, and why are expert recommendations, including those from the Forest Survey of India, being ignored?” he asked.
Environmental groups have echoed these concerns, warning that weakening safeguards for the Aravallis could adversely affect biodiversity, groundwater recharge, and air quality, especially in the National Capital Region.
The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has not yet responded to the concerns, even as the debate intensifies over balancing development needs with long-term ecological conservation in the Aravalli region.