NEW DELHI: Rajya Sabha MP and former Delhi minister Ajay Maken on Monday demanded that the government withdraw the new definition of Aravalli with the ‘local relief’ criterion — 100-metre elevation from ground — which may prove to be a disaster and pose risk to entire north India from becoming a dust bowl.Raising the issue during zero hour in the upper House, Makan said, “The Aravalli range stands at a critical juncture in its 2.5-billion-year history. It has survived the collision of continents and the erosion of centuries, but it now faces its most potent threat — an administrative definition.” He added that the proposed 100-meter elevation rule represents a disconnect between legal terminology and ecological reality, risking the dismantling of the ‘Green Wall’ that shields north India from the desert.The MP said Aravalli helps water percolation. He added that as per hydrologists, the Aravalli possess a unique ‘secondary porosity’ within their fractured rocks. Research indicates that this landscape has a groundwater recharge potential of approximately two million litres per hectare a year. For districts like Gurgaon and Faridabad, these aquifers are often the only source of fresh water, as shallow groundwater is frequently saline.Makan said a 2018 report by the SC-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) revealed that 25% of the Aravalli range in Rajasthan has been lost due to illegal mining since the late 1960s. He added that internal data from the Forest Survey of India (FSI) showed that while Rajasthan houses 12,081 mapped Aravalli hills, only 1,048 rise more than 100 metres above ‘local relief’. “This implies that 91.3% of the Aravalli hills in Rajasthan will lose their legal recognition and protection,” Maken said.
