New Delhi. Congress on Tuesday again targeted the Modi government on the Aravalli issue and asked why it is so intent on redefining this mountain range? Party general secretary Jairam Ramesh also said that Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav’s ‘clarification’ on the matter has raised more questions. Bhupendra Yadav on Monday accused the Congress of spreading ‘misinformation’ and ‘lies’ on the issue of new definition of Aravali, saying that only 0.19 percent of the mountain range can be legally mined. Yadav had said in a press conference here that the Narendra Modi government is ‘fully committed’ to the protection and restoration of Aravali.
Ramesh posted on ‘X’, “The recent “clarification” given by the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on the Aravali issue raises even more questions and doubts. The minister says that out of the total 1.44 lakh square kilometer area of Aravali, only 0.19 percent area is currently under mining leases. But this also constitutes about 68,000 acres of land, which in itself is a huge area.” He claimed that this figure of 1.44 lakh square kilometers is also misleading. Ramesh says, “This covers the entire geographical area of 34 districts of four states, which the ministry has considered as “Aravalli districts”. This is a wrong basis.
According to the Congress leader, the correct basis should be the area falling within the actual Aravalli mountain range within those districts. Ramesh said that if the actual Aravali area is taken as the basis, then the figure of 0.19 percent would prove to be a very low estimate. He also said, “In 15 of the 34 districts for which data can be verified, the Aravalli region accounts for about 33 percent of the total land. There is no clarity at all as to how much of these Aravalli areas will be taken out of protection and opened up for mining and other development activities under the new definition.”
“If local conditions are taken into account as per the minister’s suggestion, many hills more than 100 meters in height will also fall out of the ambit of conservation,” says Ramesh. He said the revised definition will open up most of the Aravalli hill belt in Delhi-NCR for real estate development, further adding to the environmental pressure. “The minister, who is taking the initiative to redefine the boundaries of the Sariska Tiger Reserve to allow mining, is ignoring the basic fact that fragmentation of an interconnected ecosystem seriously damages its ecological range,” Ramesh said. Such fragmentation is already wreaking havoc elsewhere.”
Ramesh emphasized, “Aravalli is a part of our natural heritage and has immense ecological importance. They require large-scale restoration and meaningful conservation.” He asked then why is the Modi government bent on redefining them? For what purpose? For whose benefit? And why are the recommendations of a professional body like the Forest Survey of India being deliberately ignored?
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