Continual Diminishing of the Aravalli Hills

Spread across Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Delhi, the 692 kilometre (km) long Aravalli range is considered a prime source of construction-related minerals. However, the same range is also considered the “lungs” for the world’s most polluted air of Delhi–National Capital Region (NCR) (Dayal 2019). This multi-utility of Aravalli hills range, from the business as well as public policy perspective, has made the very survival of the range a continuous struggle. The south-west range of the hills that covers the region of Delhi–NCR (including Gurugram and Faridabad) is the most degraded forest range in India (Kohli 2004). This is shocking as the same south-west range is responsible for the groundwater recharge of the “millennium city” Gurugram and of the most industrialised city of Haryana, Faridabad. Considering the mushrooming of real estate projects in Delhi–NCR, the need for construction-related minerals is on an upsurge. However, for catering to this need, the only dense forest cover of Delhi–NCR is at stake and is no longer considered effective for providing clean air, water, or soil as it used to, decades ago. At this point, the key stakeholders, namely government, operators (miners and real estate corporations), and communities, must introspect upon the decades of apathy and must implement precautionary measures to stop further degradation of the range. The pursuit should be to provide the best possible bounties of the Aravalli range, in quality as well as quantity, to the next generation.