No new mining licences in Aravallis for now: Bhupender Yadav

After a series of protests against the new definition of the Aravallis, which is perceived to open up mining in an ecologically sensitive region, Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav on Monday said while quarrying would remain banned in the Delhi-NCR region, areas would be identified for it after a comprehensive ecological study was conducted.

Of the 1,43,000 square km area, only 217.89 square km is open for mining.

Under the new definition, accepted by the Supreme Court, an Aravalli hill is any landform, which is at least 100 metres high. Two or more such hills within 500 metres of each other, along with the land between them, are considered an Aravalli range.

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“Four tiger reserves and 20 wildlife sanctuaries form the core areas of the Aravallis in which no mining can be carried out. This forms 20 per cent of the Aravallis. The ridge also has several Ramsar sites. Mining cannot be carried out near aquifers and aquifer recharge and dark zones. A management plan will be prepared for the scientific management of the ridge. Till the plan is made, no new mining lease will be issued,” Yadav said.

According to the Forest Survey of India, only 1,048 of the 12,081 mapped hills meet the criteria of 100-metre height. The concern is that 90 per cent of what was commonly understood as the Aravalli terrain may lose legal protection.

The minister said each hill’s ecological fragility would be studied before mining licences were allowed.

There is a prohibition of mining in core/inviolate areas except in the case of critical, strategic and atomic minerals.

However, there have been repeated instances of illegal mining near Gurugram, Nuh and Alwar. In Nuh, more than 800 million metric tonnes of stone have been illegally mined.

The minister said the government remained committed to curbing illegal mining.

Yadav also said the Supreme Court’s “100-metre” ruling was misinterpreted. “The 100 metres refers to the spread of the hill from top to bottom, and a 500-metre gap between two ranges will also be considered part of the Aravalli range. With this definition, 90 per cent of the area comes under the protected zone,” he said.