Rajasthan govt didn’t act despite board notice on shrinking Aravali

JAIPUR: Supreme Court’s order on Tuesday to immediately stop illegal mining in Aravali range in Rajasthan proved that the state government failed dismally to curb this in spite of the fact that National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) carried out land use change analysis almost four years back and confirmed that the natural conservation zones (NCZ) including the Aravalis were shrinking and notices were given to all states including Rajasthan.

In a special meeting of NCRPB in March 2014 it was decided that all NCZ be delineated by each participating state though none have completed the work till date and Rajasthan’s urban development department was even sent a notice dated August 12, 2014 asking them to do so within three months. NCRPB filed a petition in NGT also regarding this which ordered the Union ministry of urban development to look into the matter and also constituted a committee for restoration of NCZ including Aravalis.

NCPRB in conjunction with National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) and ISRO while comparing satellite imageries of year 2012 found that shrinkage in NCZ in Haryana sub-region was 25.97%, in NCT-Delhi 15.24%, in Uttar Pradesh sub-region 43.88% and in Rajasthan sub-region 11.18%.

Gaurav Bansal, lawyer who petitioned on behalf of NCPRB in NGT told TOI, “The shrinking of NCZ like Aravalis have been going on for years and Rajasthan government was made aware of it years back. Essentially, NCZ are no construction zones but the government failed to ensure that because of which biodiversity, biological resources, flora and fauna in that region have depleted. They are to be blamed completely for the vanishing Aravalis because it’s the state government which is responsible for ensuring no mining etc. is done there since it’s completely illegal. They ignored all warnings.”

The major natural features, identified as environmentally sensitive areas, are the extension of Aravalli ridge in Rajasthan, Haryana and NCT-Delhi, forest areas, and tributaries of Yamuna, Ganga, Kali, Hindon and Sahibi, sanctuaries, major lakes and water bodies such as Badkal lake, Suraj Kund and Damdama in in Haryana sub-region and Siliserh lake in Rajasthan etc. These areas have been demarcated as Natural Area Conservation Zone in the Regional Plan 2021.

Meanwhile Rajasthan government in their reply to the petition had stated ‘that the applicant has wrongly averred that the resources like forest, water bodies and wasteland are being depleted at an alarming rate against the Regional Plans in the areas which has been earmarked as National Conservation Zone in the National Capital Region, as the contents of numerous survey reports conducted by the authorized authorities shows otherwise.’