Amid row, Centre says most of Aravalli hills are protected

The Centre's new definition of the Aravalli hills will protect over 90% of the geological formation, Union environment minister Bhupender Yadav said on Sunday, rejecting claims that the move will open the fragile ecosystem to large-scale mining.

- Jayashree Nandi

A central government panel defined landforms rising at least 100 metres above the local relief as Aravalli hills, a definition the Supreme Court accepted during a November 20 hearing. “Local relief” means the elevation difference between the hill and its surrounding base area.

“After this definition was adopted, more than 90% of the area came under the protected zone. According to my statement, the total area of the Aravalli range is 147,000 sq km.Currently, in the 39 districts I have information for, mining is only possible in 217 sq km. And even in that, mining cannot be done indiscriminately — there are Supreme Court guidelines,” Yadav said at the Sundarban Tiger Reserve in West Bengal amid a spiralling row over the issue.

Later, Yadav, in a post on X, clarified that “only 0.19% of the area” was eligible for mining.

Yadav also said that the Aravalli range has been defined as two or more hills within 500 metres of each other. He also said that the height of a hill will be measured from its base, not the surface. “The mountain's base structure extends 20m underground and the protection extends till 100m,” he said.

The Union ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) later issued a factsheet detailing the definition, its objective, and the methodology the Centre used to arrive at the framework. It also stressed that mining in the range is controlled by Supreme Court orders. It said the court-approved framework places a freeze on new mining leases until a comprehensive management plan is finalised.