"If Sonia Gandhi is opposing it, it must be good for India."

 "If Sonia Gandhi is opposing it, it must be good for India."

Bhakts on social media are finding virtues in the latest Modi govt directive of changing the environmental status of the Aravalli hills and its destruction.
As part of the definition, any landform that is at an elevation of 100 metres or more above the local relief will be considered as part of Aravalli Hills along with its slopes and adjacent land. By this definition, more than 90% of the Aravali Hills will not be counted as Aravalli anymore.
//The entire landform lying within the area enclosed by such lowest contour, together with the hill, its supporting slopes and associated landforms irrespective of their gradient, shall be deemed to be part of the ‘Aravalli Hills’. Two or more Aravalli hills located within a proximity of 500 metres from each other, measured from the outermost point on the boundary of the lowest contour line on either side, form the ‘Aravalli Range’.//
This will exclude more than 90% of the Aravallis, including vast stretches of low-lying scrub hills, grasslands and ridges, for the purpose of mining. Most of these areas can then be opened for mining. This would undo three decades of legal protection to these critical ecosystems.
Out of seven Aravalli districts in the Haryana state, licensed mining operations have wiped out most of the two-billion-year-old ecological heritage of India in the districts of Charkhi Dadri and Bhiwani. Aravalli hills in Gurugram, Nuh and Faridabad districts were plundered during the time when licensed mining took place before the Supreme Court banned mining in 2009 in these three districts.
The extremely dismal state of the Aravalli hills in the districts of Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat as a result of destruction caused by mining and stone-crushing has to be seen to be believed. Over the last few decades, destruction of the Aravalli hills across the entire range has been on such a massive scale that more than 12 breaches in the Aravallis have opened up, extending from Ajmer to Jhunjhunu in Rajasthan and Mahendergarh district in south Haryana, from where dust from the Thar desert has been blowing into Delhi-NCR, adding to the pollution woes of this region.
Currently, the remnant forests of the Aravallis act as a critical forest habitat and corridor, and a biodiversity hotspot harbouring more than 200 bird species and endangered mammals such as leopards, grey langurs, hyenas, jackals, honey badgers and jungle cats. The new definition of the Aravalli hills will erase many hills and forests, thereby shrinking wildlife habitats and increasing human–wildlife conflict in the region.
Decision risks irreversible damage to North West India’s only barrier against desertification, critical water recharge zones, pollution sinks, wildlife habitats, and public health
SOURCE: Neelam Ahluwalia, Founder Member of People for Aravallis and Ghazala Shahabuddin, ecologist and Visiting Professor at Ashoka University, Sonipat.


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