New Delhi, Aug 31 (PTI) Ajay Yadav, in his 40s, stands on a hilltop, pointing to an open mining pit that is tens of hectares wide and many metres deep. Surrounded by multiple stepped grey rock benches, akin to a giant circular staircase, the pit’s floor is dotted with turquoise-blue water pools.
This scene can be found not only in Yadav’s village, Jodhpura-Mohanpura, of Kotputli-Behror district but also in several areas of Sikar district, Rajasthan. The former army man alleges that several mines operating in the state’s Aravalli range intersect the natural water table, leading to a substantial drop in groundwater levels and its contamination.
Yadav was hopeful that the Supreme Court-appointed panel, which recently concluded its field visits to survey the Aravallis, would come to his village and assess the impacts of mining. However, the committee did not arrive.
“A group of village residents went after the panel members travelling in cars for inspection on August 8. Although the members assured us they would come here later during the day, they left the district via a nearby highway without visiting the village,” says Yadav.
The committee, which is to submit its report by August 31, is conducting an independent review of the Centre’s report on the definition and delineation of the Aravallis, India’s oldest mountain range.
With their natural cracks and fissures, the Aravalli hills have the potential to put two million litres of water per hectare into the ground every year, according to experts. This makes the range a critical water recharge zone for several areas in north-west India, where the Aravallis stretch from Delhi to Gujarat.
But decades-long mining of sedimentary rocks, such as limestone and marble, in the range has allegedly resulted in the setting up of numerous stone quarries and stone crushers near or on riverbeds and water bodies. This imperils the water security that the Aravallis once provided.
The SC-appointed panel’s report can change this by establishing ecological boundaries in the range, helping to curb mining operations. To the people impacted by mining activities, however, this looks like a distant dream, as committee members did not even visit some of the worst-affected areas.
Depleting groundwater ———————— Kailash Yadav, secretary of Jodhpura Sangharsh Samiti, sits on a cemented platform under a tree, around which a banner is tied. It reads that his organisation has been protesting against the mining operations conducted by UltraTech Cement Limited in Jodhpura-Mohanpura village for more than 1,350 days.
“Our village is in a dark zone (meaning groundwater resources in the area are severely over-exploited). Yet mining operations that draw an immense amount of groundwater are taking place here,” he says.
In April 2023, the National Alliance of People’s Movement (NAPM) and the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) conducted a field study in the region and found that in Jodhpura-Mohanpura, groundwater levels have “depleted significantly” since the beginning of the mining activities.
“Only 10 pc of groundwater sources in Jodhpura-Mohanpura village are operational, and that, too, over a depth of 700 feet. In contrast, groundwater is available at a depth of approximately 200 feet in other sampled villages,” the survey report said.
As a result, residents have been forced to either install costly borewells or rely on private water tankers.
“Yahan panni ghee ki tarah istamal hota hai (Water is used as judiciously as ghee here),” says Rajendri Devi, in her 60s, who is accompanying Kailash. To ensure a steady supply of water for her family, she spends more than Rs 5,000 every month to get tankers to her house.
A response from UltraTech Cement Limited and the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change regarding the allegations is awaited.
About 50 kilometres from Jodhpura-Mohanpura is Sikar’s Neem Ka Thana, a small town in Rajasthan’s Sikar district, through which once the Kasawati River, a tributary of the Sahibi River, flowed.
However, Kasawati now seems to be reduced to a trickle threading through narrow spaces, especially in Neem Ka Thana’s Neemod village. Its reduced volume has caused depleted groundwater levels not only in Neem Ka Thana but also in nearby areas.
Kasawati’s slow death has been triggered by the establishment of mining, stone crushing, and washing units over or near the riverbed, alleges Kailash Meena, an environmentalist who has been opposing illegal mining in the Aravallis for nearly three decades.
“Authorities have accepted that stone crushers operate on Kasawati’s riverbed. But the units have not been removed,” says Meena.
For instance, in a notice dated July 22, 2021, an assistant engineer of Neem Ka Thana’s water resources sub-division, pointed out that there had been encroachments upon a section of government land in Kasawati’s flow area, and they need to be removed immediately.
Meena says that the increasing number of stone dust-washing units in the area has also hit water availability.
His estimates suggest that a washing plant consumes between 60,000 and 100,000 litres of water per hour, depending on the horsepower of the boring motor and the capacity of the pipe used.
While an eight-inch bore consumes around 60,000 litres/hour, a 12-inch bore consumes up to 100,000 litres/hour, says Meena.
According to the National Compilation on Dynamic Ground Water Resources of India, 2023, published by the Ministry of Jal Shakti, more than 71 pc of assessed units (blocks/mandals/talukas) were in the ‘over-exploited’ category, indicating groundwater extraction exceeded the annual replenishable groundwater recharge.
Areas such as Kotputli and Neem Ka Thana were under the over-exploited category.
Water contamination ———————– The issue of reduced groundwater levels is just the tip of an iceberg.
Residents and multiple scientific reports have claimed that the water in several parts of Kotputli-Behror and Sikar is contaminated due to mining activities.
In March 2025, National Alliance for Climate and Ecological Justice (NACEJ) — an initiative of the NAPM — took water samples from the Kasawati River, near the stone crushing units in Neemod village.
Test reports showed that water samples were excessively turbid, meaning highly murky, cloudy, or opaque. Turbidity was at 92 NTU (Nephelometric Turbidity Units) against the maximum acceptable limit of one and the maximum permissible limit of five NTU.
One reason for the increase in water turbidity could be the dust generated during stone crushing activities washing into water bodies.
The report also revealed that in the samples, ammonia was at 6.4 mg/L, higher than the maximum acceptable limit of 0.5 mg/L. The pollutant’s source could be ammonium nitrate-based explosives used for blasting at mining sites. The residual ammonium nitrate may have dissolved into groundwater and water bodies through surface runoff.
Meena says, “Some stone crushers operating here have been shown as farmhouses on paper. They are playing with people’s lives. It is a criminal offence.” Much like Kasawati, the Sota River, which used to flow through several villages in Kotputli-Behror and merge with the Sahibi River, is on the verge of extension, according to residents.
Extensive mining, stone crushing, and construction in the river’s flow area and floodplain have allegedly been taking place for years.
Gokul, a farmer in his 60s and resident of Kotputli-Behror’s Kansli village, stands near a stone crushing unit, allegedly built on the dry flow area of Sota.
“I have a farm right next to Sota, which used to be a crucial source of water for irrigation before the river dried up. Now, there is a stone crusher here, and it frequently discharges wastewater into my farm, destroying the crops,” he says.
The NAPM and PUCL report on impacts of mining in Jodhapur-Mohanpura revealed that a groundwater sample from the village was found to have a high nitrate concentration of 211 mg/L, making it unfit for drinking purposes. The permissible limit of nitrates is 45 mg/L, said the report.
Jodhapur-Mohanpura’s Kailash Yadav says, “This is why we wanted Aravalli committee members to come and see for themselves the fallouts of mining activities. But they skipped coming here.” The panel conducted its field visits between August 6 and 10, visiting nine districts in Delhi, Haryana, and Rajasthan, according to the Aravalli Virasat Jan Abhiyaan, a group of environmentalists, social activists, and others. Public hearings were held in the four cities — Gurgaon, Alwar, Ajmer, and Udaipur.
Mining-affected communities and activists have demanded that the committee’s August 31 deadline for its report submissions must be extended for a proper assessment of the Aravallis.
Neelam Ahluwalia, co-founder of Aravalli Virasat Jan Abhiyaan, says, “The committee should ask the SC for an extension to do more extensive consultations with lawyers and affected stakeholders.” As of writing this piece, no announcement about an extension of the deadline has been made. PTI ALC SHS SHS
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