Environmentalists urge Haryana CM to protect Aravali hills
On the eve of the World Environment Day, a group of environmentalists, working to conserve Aravalis, has written to Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini and the State Forest Department officials to create policies and plans to protect India's oldest mountain range 'so that our wildlife do not lose their home and our current and future generations can live with dignity without gasping for breath'.
The members of 'People for Aravallis', a collective of rural and urban citizens and environmentalists, in an email expressed apprehension that Haryana would soon become a desert and water-starved with the Aravali hills being mined at a brisk pace. 'These hills are the only shield preventing expansion of the Thar desert into Haryana. With their natural cracks, the hills have the potential to put two million litres of water per hectare in the ground every year. Sadly, no technology or initiatives like the 'Aravalli Green Wall Project' can restore or get back the two billion years old Aravali hills that have been razed to the ground or continuing to be broken,' read the letter.
The group members also shared a 70-odd page report 'State of the Haryana Aravallis: Citizens', the first in a series of upcoming reports, focusing on the status of the Aravalis as a result of rampant mining (licensed and illegal), deforestation, encroachments, diversion of Aravalli land for various projects and lack of sufficient legal and on-ground protective measures.
'The report has showcased in detail how licensed mining and stone crushing units across the Aravalis have been flouting rules and regulations and how illegal mining continues brazenly in most districts in various ways. It also states how of the seven districts where the Aravalis are present in Haryana, in two districts, licensed mining operations have wiped out most of the hills. Only a few small hillocks stand in the name of the 'mighty Aravalis' in Bhiwani district. The policy decision to allow mining in Charkhi Dadri has over the last one decade resulted in the near annihilation of one of the oldest geological features in the world in this district,' said Neelam Ahluwalia, Founder Member, 'People for Aravallis'.
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