Order of the National Green Tribunal regarding illegal mining destroying Aravallis, 22/01/2025
Order of the National Green Tribunal regarding News Item titled "Mining mafia brings down another Aravalli hill" appearing in The Tribune dated 21.12.2024. The order was dated January 22, 2025.
The matter relates to the rampant illegal mining and blast of a hillock of the protected Aravalli range on the Haryana-Rajasthan border, making it collapse entirely within a few hours. The incident mentioned in the article reportedly occurred at Rava village in Nuh, but the Haryana mining authorities continued to claim that it happened in neighboring Rajasthan. The article alleged that mafia’s modus operandi is to conduct a blast on the Rajasthan side, where mining is legal to some extent, and eat into the hills of Haryana.
A 2023 study by Rajasthan, cited in the article, revealed that between 1975 and 2019, nearly 8% of the Aravalli hills had disappeared. It projected the loss at 22 per cent by 2059 if the “explosive urbanisation” and illegal mining continued. Over 8 crore metric tonnes worth of mining material spread across hills in Naharika, Chittora and Rava villages of Nuh had vanished. This is the fourth incident in less than a year when mining mafia blasted a hillock in the protected Aravallis on the Haryana-Rajasthan border. As per the article roads are made for dumpers through forests, blasting of hills is done every weekend, and illegal mining is occurring in around 30 villages across Haryana Rajasthan Border and no action is still taken.
Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) along with State Pollution Control Boards from Haryana, Rajasthan were directed to file their response. Others who were asked to file their response included the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), Jaipur; MoEFCC, Chandigarh; District Magistrate, Bharatpur and District Magistrate, Nuh.