A businessasusual stance will be disastrous

Implement the Supreme Court order on the Aravallis in both letter and spirit

The Supreme Court on Tuesday expressed shock that 31 hills in the Aravalli area of Rajasthan have “vanished”, and, in a strongly worded order, directed the state government to stop illegal mining in 115.34-hectare area within 48 hours. The dire state of the Aravalli range, which straddles the states of Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and Gujarat, because of the plunder of its mineral resources has been documented in detail in many government reports. Earlier this year, a Comptroller and Auditor General of India’s report highlighted that 98.87 lakh metric tonnes of minerals were illegally excavated between 2011-12 and 2016-17 in Rajasthan. It also highlighted violations of green norms in the state, including flouting of earlier apex court orders on the Aravallis. The Aravalli hills face repeated assaults from the mining mafia in Rajasthan because it has a rich reserve of red Badarpur sand, quartz, copper, lead, zinc, rock phosphate, soapstone, silica sand, limestone, marble and gypsum.

This loot of public resources and state revenue could happen because Rajasthan, like many other Indian states, did not take concrete measures — regulatory supervisions, proper vigilance, modernisation of check posts and restoration and reclamation of mined out pits — to stop illegal mining. It was also noticed that there was inadequate follow up of cases on illegal mining and delay in issuing notices to erring mining companies.

While the financial impact of illegal mining are quantifiable, there are many others such as health, that could have intergenerational impacts. They are, therefore, difficult to measure. But they can be damaging for people and set them back in their lives for a very long time. To ensure that people don’t pay the price for apathy on the part of the State, the top court’s order against illegal mining must be implemented in letter and spirit. A business as usual approach will be disastrous.