Amid hues and cry surrounding protection of Aravali ranges, Anand Kumar, who is serving as additional chief secretary forest, environment and climate change, has been entrusted with the task of creating green cover over the Aravali ranges in Rajasthan.
The state government has launched Rs 250 crore Green Aravali Development Project for intense afforestation across 32,000 hectare areas falling under Aravali ranges.
“We are committed to the protection of Aravalis. For that we will comply with the directions and guidelines of central empowered committee (CEC) and the Supreme Court,” said a senior environment department official.
The world's oldest mountain range runs around 670 km passing through parts of Delhi, southern Haryana, Rajasthan, and ends in Ahmedabad, Gujarat. It has the most prominent presence in Rajasthan passing through almost 15 districts.
Anand Kumar, a 1994 batch IAS officer, is considered an efficient and upright officer. Hailing from Rewari (Haryana), he understands the importance of Aravali and has seen the ranges since his childhood.
Why this Kolaveri over Supreme Court's new definition on Aravali
The Supreme Court recently accepted a definition recommended by a committee spearheaded by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (‘MoEFCC'). The court held that only landforms rising at least 100 metres above the local relief would qualify as Aravalli Hills, and that clusters of such hills located within 500 metres of each other would form an Aravalli Range.
The new definition created fear among people that it will narrow protected areas, potentially opening vast regions to mining, construction, and deforestation in this critical ecological zone. That will result into surge in mining leases in buffer zones pending the Management Plan, threatening groundwater recharge, wildlife corridors for leopards and birds, and air quality for Delhi-NCR.
Past illegal mining has already degraded the range, and the new criteria may enable resumption without adequate ecological safeguards.
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