Environment Ministry writes to States to ‘enforce’ Supreme Court’s Aravalli orders

The Environment Ministry on Wednesday issued orders to the Chief Secretaries of Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat, asking them to enforce the Supreme Court’s direction preventing the granting of new mining leases across the Aravalli range till a management plan is finalised. 

Existing mines with permissions will be allowed, provided they “strictly” comply with norms. 

A letter has also been sent to the Director General of the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), an expert body affiliated to the Environment Ministry, directing it prepare a Management Plan for Sustainable Mining that should identify “permissible areas for mining” as well those that are “ecologically sensitive, conservation-critical and restoration-priority areas within the landscape where mining would be permitted only under exceptional circumstances.” No deadline has been specified to complete the exercise. 

Amid criticism from environmental activists and allegations that vast tracts of the Aravali ranges could be opened for mining, the letters issued on Wednesday (December 24) align with Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav’s recent emphasis on protecting the region. 

A press release from the Environment Ministry stated that the ICFRE exercise would “enlarge the coverage of areas protected and prohibited from mining.” 

Although mining, along with stone quarrying and deforestation in the Aravalis, has been an environmental concern in the courts for years, a uniform definition of the Aravali range applicable across all States and Union Territories remained elusive. A committee of experts, including representatives of the Union Environment Ministry, recommended that all States agree to adopt the uniform criterion of “100 metres above local relief” for regulating mining in the Aravalli region, a standard that has been in force in Rajasthan since January 9, 2006. 

The Aravali range has also been defined as all the landforms within 500 metres of two adjoining hills that are 100 metres or higher. All landforms within this 500-metre zone, irrespective of their height and slopes, are excluded from consideration for mining leases, said an explainer from the Environment Ministry.

However, the government doesn’t yet have a figure on how many hills are included under this definition. A 2010 report by the Forest Survey of India, reportedly estimated that only 8% of about 12,000 hills exceed 100 metres and are therefore potentially open to mining. 

“This is a bogus attempt at damage control that will not fool anybody. These are pious proclamations but the dangerous 100m+ redefinition of the Aravallis – rejected by the Forest Survey of India, the Supreme Court-mandated Central Empowered Committee, and the Supreme Court’s amicus curiae –  remains unchanged, “said Jairam Ramesh, Congress Party spokesperson, in a post on X.