Bogus attempt at damage control that will not fool anyone: Cong on Centre's move on Aravallis

New Delhi, Dec 24 (PTI) The Congress accused the government on Wednesday of misleading people on the Aravallis issue and said directions to states for a ban on granting new mining leases within the mountain range is a "bogus attempt at damage control that will not fool anybody".

The opposition party also asked the government why is it pushing through a "fatally flawed redefinition" of the hills.

After a row over the redefinition of the Aravallis as beyond 100 metres, the Centre issued directions to states on Wednesday for a complete ban on granting new mining leases within the mountain range, officials said.

In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "This is a bogus attempt at damage control that will not fool anybody." "The Aravallis are not being saved, but are being sold out," he alleged.

"These are pious proclamations but the dangerous 100m+ redefinition of the Aravallis -- rejected by the Forest Survey of India, the Supreme Court-mandated Central Empowered Committee, and the Supreme Court's amicus curiae -- remains unchanged," the former Union environment minister pointed out.

Ramesh had earlier said the redefinition of the Aravallis that the Centre is adopting has been opposed by the Forest Survey of India, the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) of the Supreme Court and the apex court's amicus curiae.

Under the new definition, an "Aravalli Hill" is a landform with an elevation of at least 100 metres above its surrounding terrain and an "Aravalli Range" is a cluster of two or more such hills within 500 metres of each other.

Critics argue that many ecologically-important parts of the Aravalli system do not meet the 100-metre threshold (for example, low ridges, slopes, foothills and recharge areas), yet are important for groundwater recharge, biodiversity support, climate moderation and soil stability.

The Bharatiya Janata Party-led Centre has rejected the charge that the new definition weakens environmental safeguards. It has said most of the Aravalli region -- more than 90 per cent -- is protected and the new definition does not relax mining controls.

"It is by now abundantly clear that the Union Minister of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change is being economical with the truth on the Aravallis issue and is misleading the public," Ramesh said in his social-media post.

"The redefinition of the Aravallis that the Modi government is adopting has been clearly and compellingly OPPOSED by (i) Forest Survey of India; (ii) the Central Empowered Committee first set up by the Supreme Court in May 2002 and reconstituted in Dec 2023 to advise it on environment and forest matters; and (iii) the Supreme Court's own amicus curiae (friend of the court)," the Congress leader said.

He asked the government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, why is it pushing through a "fatally flawed" redefinition of the Aravallis.

The Congress earlier wondered why the Modi government was "hell-bent" on redefining the mountain range and for whose benefit, saying the Aravallis are the country's natural heritage and have great ecological value. PTI SKC RC