Centre Has Not Diluted Aravalli Protections, 90% Area to Remain Safeguarded: Bhupendra Yadav

Union Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupendra Yadav on Sunday rejected claims that the Centre has diluted protections for the Aravalli hills, asserting that the government remains firmly committed to preserving the fragile ecosystem and that nearly 90 per cent of the Aravalli landscape will continue to be protected.

“There are no relaxations on the Aravalli. The Aravalli range spans four states — Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat. A petition regarding it has been pending in court since 1985,” Yadav was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.

Addressing controversy around the “100-metre” definition, the minister said misinformation was being widely circulated. “Some YouTube channels are wrongly interpreting the 100-metre range as the top 100 metres, which is not correct. The 100 metres refers to the spread of the hill from top to bottom, and even the gap between two ranges will be treated as part of the Aravalli. With this definition, about 90 per cent of the area falls under the protected zone,” he said.

Yadav underlined that mining in the region would remain strictly regulated. He said the total Aravalli area is around 1.47 lakh square kilometres, of which only about 217 square kilometres — roughly two per cent — is eligible for mining. “Even that is subject to strict conditions. The Supreme Court has directed that a Management Plan for Sustainable Mining be prepared, and after that, permission from the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) will be required before any activity can begin,” he said.

The minister further stressed that mining in the Delhi Aravalli is completely prohibited. “All protected areas and forest reserves in Delhi will remain unchanged. Our government has been running the Green Aravalli programme for the past two years. We are very considerate about the Aravalli, and a false narrative is being created,” he added.

Several opposition parties, including the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, have opposed the Supreme Court ruling, warning of serious ecological consequences. The BJP, however, has dismissed the criticism as misleading.

In a post on X, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said protecting the Aravallis was inseparable from Delhi’s survival, calling the range a natural shield for the Delhi-NCR region. “If the Aravalli survives, Delhi will remain lush and green. Saving the Aravalli is not an option but a resolve,” he wrote, warning that further degradation would worsen air pollution, biodiversity loss and extreme temperatures in the capital.

He also said continued damage to the range would aggravate smog conditions, with severe impacts on public health, particularly among the elderly, the sick and children, and could further undermine Delhi’s healthcare reputation.

The new definition of what constitutes the Aravalli hills has triggered protests from Haryana’s Gurugram to Rajasthan’s Udaipur, with environmental activists fearing it could harm the ecological balance of one of India’s oldest mountain ranges.