Congress accuses Govt of misleading public on Aravallis

The Congress on Wednesday accused the Government of misleading the public on the issue of Aravallis and asked why it was pushing through a “fatally flawed redefinition” of the hills.

In a social media post, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the redefinition of the Aravallis that the Government is adopting was opposed by the Forest Survey, the central empowered committee of the Supreme Court and the SC’s amicus curiae.

Under the new definition, an “Aravalli Hill” is a landform with an elevation of at least 100 metres above its local surrounding terrain and an “Aravalli Range” is a cluster of two or more such hills within 500 metres of each other.

Critics argue that many ecologically important parts of the Aravalli system do not meet the 100-metre threshold (e.g., low ridges, slopes, foothills and recharge areas), yet are important for groundwater recharge, biodiversity support, climate moderation and soil stability. The Centre has rejected the charge that the new definition weakens environmental safeguards. It has said that most of the Aravalli region, over 90 per cent, remains protected and the new definition does not relax mining controls.

“It is by now abundantly clear that the Union Minister of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change is being economical with the truth on the Aravallis issue and is misleading the public,” Ramesh said in his post. “The redefinition of the Aravallis that the Modi Government is adopting has been clearly and compellingly OPPOSED by (i) Forest Survey of India; (ii) the Central Empowered Committee first set up by the Supreme Court in May 2002 and reconstituted in Dec 2023 to advise it on environment and forest matters; and (iii) the Supreme Court’s own amicus curiae (friend of the court),” the former environment minister said.

Ramesh asked why the Modi Government is pushing through a “fatally flawed” redefinition of the Aravallis. The Congress earlier wondered why the Modi Government was “hell-bent” on redefining the mountain range and for whose benefit, saying the Aravallis are the country’s natural heritage and have great ecological value.