Chandigarh: The Haryana government’s proposed Aravalli jungle safari is facing legal challenges, with a petition before the Supreme Court citing its potential adverse impact on the forest’s ecosystem.
In an application moved before a special bench dealing exclusively with environment and forest cases, the petitioners — Gurugram-based environmental activists Vaishali Rana, Vivek Kamboj and Roma Jaswal — have said that the Aravallis are home to a diverse ecosystem that could potentially come under threat due to the move.
“Aravalli Hills, which is one of the oldest mountain ranges on the Earth, are the prominent landforms shaping the west Indian climate and biodiversity. Aravalli with its lush green forests used to act as a green barrier and acted as an effective shield against desertification,” said the petition, which was mentioned before the bench Wednesday by the petitioners’ lawyer, Gaurav Bansal.
The petition adds that Haryana has invited “Expression of Interest” for the development of a biodiversity park for the safari, which has been envisaged on up on 10,000 acres of forest land spanning the districts of Gurugram and Nuh in Haryana.
The SC bench, headed by Justice B.R. Gavai, has asked the petitioners to submit a copy of the petition to the court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC), a panel of experts that considers and makes recommendations on projects in ecologically fragile areas.
Advocate Gaurav Bansal told ThePrint that the application was mentioned while the court was hearing another petition on a jungle safari at the Jim Corbett national park in Uttarakhand.
The legal challenge to the proposed project comes a day after Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi to lay its foundation stone. The date for the ceremony has yet to be decided.
Reached for comment, Haryana Tourism Principal Secretary M.D. Sinha said the state government had yet to receive a notice but declined to comment any further, saying the issue is “subjudice”. “Whatever we have to say, we will say it to the court alone,” he said.
The Haryana government plans to execute the proposed Aravalli jungle safari in three phases.
According to the proposal, the safari will be developed like a biodiversity park and aims “to establish local/native flora and fauna; improve overall soil water regime to conserve and enrich the ecology; recharge groundwater; improve habitat for wildlife; buffer-local weather; serve as sink for CO2 and other pollutants; conserve natural heritage of the area; promote environmental awareness among the public and students; serve as a living laboratory; and to provide recreational value to the public”, according to a 5 July report in The Indian Express.
‘Large-scale changes will damage ecosystem’
The 690-km-long Aravalli Range runs diagonally and spans Gujarat, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi. Because of its geography, it plays host to a unique biodiversity. According to Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change’s ‘Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures’ document, it has “a mix of Saharan, Ethiopian, peninsular, oriental and even Malayan elements of flora and fauna”.
The Haryana government’s plan for the jungle safari includes a large herpetarium (a zoological exhibition space for reptiles and amphibians), a bird park, four zones for big cats, a large area for herbivores, an area for exotic animal and birds, an underwater world, nature trails, visitor zones, and botanical gardens, among other things, according to a 30 September 2022 Indian Express report.
In their petition against the proposal, environmentalists Rana, Kamboj and Jaswal have said that the Aravallis are home to a wide range of wildlife and plant species, including tigers, leopards, wolves, blackbuck, chinkara, and desert fox.
It’s also rich in minerals like zinc, gold, silver, copper ore and lead, as well as building material like marble and limestone, according to the petition.
Rapid deforestation and development activities, the petition says, are already destroying the forest’s unique landscape. The construction activities proposed in the “Expression of Interest” will not only harm the ecology, biological diversity, flora and environment of the range, but will also completely destroy the wildlife, it adds.
Any obstruction and disturbance in the natural setup will lead to large-scale changes in the areas adjoining north Indian plains and will be devastating for the environment, affecting eastern Rajasthan, Haryana, Malwa region, western Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, the petition says.
(Edited by Uttara Ranaswamy)
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