New Delhi, Dec 8 (PTI) Congress party’s Rajya Sabha member Ajay Maken on Monday warned that the 100-metre criteria to define the Aravali hills and ranges risks destroying the green wall which prevents northern and northwestern India from turning into a desert.
Last month, the Supreme Court accepted a uniform definition of the Aravali Hills and Ranges and banned the grant of fresh mining leases inside its areas spanning Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and Gujarat until experts’ reports are out.
“Aravali Hill” will be defined as any landform in designated Aravali districts with an elevation of 100 metres or more above its local relief, and an “Aravali Range” will be a collection of two or more such hills within 500 metres of each other.
Raising the matter during the Zero Hour in the Rajya Sabha, Maken said the Aravali mountains are 2.5 billion years old, and today are standing at a crucial turning point in their history.
He said that from a hydrological perspective, the rocks of the Aravali have a special capacity that allows water to percolate and seep into the ground. This results in approximately 20 lakh litres of groundwater recharge per hectare every year.
These aquifers, the Congress MP said, are the only source of fresh water for districts like Gurugram and Faridabad.
Despite that, there is a ‘loot’ of the natural resource through illegal mining, he said.
He further said that in November, a new definition was adopted that the Aravali hills must be 100 meters or more above their local ground level.
If this definition is adopted, 99 per cent of the Aravali hills in Rajasthan will be cleared.
Clearly, the 100-meter definition will be a disaster, Maken said.
He urged the government to withdraw the 100 metres criteria to save northern and northwestern India from becoming a dust bowl.
In her Zero Hour mention, Ranjeet Ranjan (Congress) raised the issue of cutting of cedar trees in the eco-sensitive zone near Bhagirathi in Uttarakhand.
She said the ministers had assured in the House that felling of cedar trees would be allowed, but permission has been granted to cut 6,000 trees.
On one hand, the prime minister says — plant a tree in the name of your mother, and on the other hand, millions of trees are being cut down under the false pretext of development, Ranjan added.
Referring to the Char Dham all-weather road, she cautioned that if trees and mountains are being cut indiscriminately in the name of road widening, it is certain that landslides will increase.
The Congress MP also highlighted that local people are trying to save the trees by tying ‘raksha sutras’ to them.
Questioning the government’s development model, Ranjan said road widening in the Himalayas is failing, and the army and travellers are falling victim to landslides. PTI NKD HVA
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