Ahead of a hearing of a petition by Haryana government seeking permission for mining in Aravalis in Gurugram and Faridabad, in the Supreme Court, environmentalists and the residents are strongly opposed to mining being legalised and demand that forest cover be increased in the State.
In an email campaign to the Chief Justice of India, the residents have been demanding that no mining and real estate be allowed in the Aravalis. Instead, the government should come out with a three-year roadmap to take the legal native forest cover in the State to 20%, as per the Haryana Forest Department policy target and an all-India average.
The other demands include demolition of all illegal construction in the Aravalis, planting of native sablings, notifying 50,000 acre of the Aravalis as deemed forest and retaining the Aravalis in South Haryana as Natural Conservation Zone.
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Pollution issue
The residents, in the email, argued that destruction of the Aravalis would worsen the air pollution situation in the NCR and the mountain range is the only natural barrier against desertification. The Aravalis, with their natural cracks and fissures, have the potential to put two million litres of water per hectare in the ground every year. Besides, the mountain range is a biodiversity hotspot with 400-odd species of native trees, shrubs and herbs; 200-odd native and migratory bird species;
As per the Economic Survey of Haryana 2020-21, as many as 58 mines out of the total 119 have been allocated. More than 26,000 cases of illegal mining, including 1,358 till September 2020 for the current financial year, have been reported. Besides, the collection from mining for 2020-21, till January, is ₹770.00 crore – the highest since 2005-06.
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