Let the Aravallis be

India needs an urgent rethink on forest cover

The remarks made by the Supreme Court while directing the Rajasthan government to immediately stop mining in the specified areas of the Aravalli hills are startling enough to merit serious consideration and appropriate remedial action. As many as 31 hills in the Rajasthan segment of the Aravallis have vanished, the court pointed out, taking note of the Forest Survey of India (FSI) report that confirmed continued illegal mining at more than 3,200 sites. The disappearance of these hills could be responsible for the rising pollution levels in Delhi, the court maintained. This is a telling comment on the state of the environment, coming at a time when the National Capital Region (NCR) is reeling from air pollution and is struggling hard to combat it.

Mining is, indeed, not the only bane of this 692-km-long series of hills spanning parts of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Large-scale urbanisation and realty projects are also altering the geography and ecology of these hills, which serve as the natural lung for the thickly populated NCR, including Delhi and Gurugram. The degradation of the Aravallis on such a huge scale is also eroding its ability to act as a green barrier against the creep of the Thar desert towards the highly fertile plains of Punjab, Haryana and Delhi. The Aravalli range needs to be conserved also because it is a rich biodiversity hotspot, hosting many rare species of flora and fauna. Several rivers and rivulets, including the Sabarmati, Luni, Chambal and Krishnavati, originate here.  

Regrettably, most initiatives undertaken since the early 2000s, including those emanating from judicial interventions, to save these mountains from exploitation, have largely failed in achieving their objectives. The Centre had prohibited mining in this area in 2003 and the Supreme Court had ordered similar action in all the notified areas of the Aravallis in 2004. In spite of that, illegal mining and quarrying have continued to wreck these hills, with the Centre and state governments sitting by as silent observers. Haryana, for instance, has been delaying designating the bulk of the Aravallis as forests on the pretext that there is no clear definition of forests. To be sure, there is an ambiguity, but the blame for this lies partly with the Supreme Court as well. In a 1996 judgment, the court had, oddly enough, said that the term forest should be understood in its dictionary sense and should include all areas mentioned as forests in government records regardless of their present condition or ownership.

The latest example of the official agencies’ apathy towards forest conservation is the proposal of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to construct a six-lane road cutting across the Aravalli Biodiversity Park. Developed jointly by ecologists, volunteers and the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram, this 380-acre park has 115,000 important species of trees and shrubs and over 180 species of birds, animals, insects, reptiles and other fauna. Nature lovers of Delhi and Gurugram have been protesting the NHAI’s move, demanding — quite fairly — that the planned road be shifted to the periphery of the park rather than through it. Hopefully, the governments of the states having stakes in the Aravallis would forestall further degradation of these hills to shield not only the ecology of this vital string of mountains but also the human and environmental health of the NCR.