The government of Rajasthan has told the Supreme Court that no illegal mining was going on in the Aravalli mountain range in the state.
The chief secretary of Rajasthan has filed an affidavit in the top court which had on October 23 expressed shock over 31 “vanished” hills or hillocks in Aravalli area. SC had asked the state government to stop illegal mining in the 115.34-hectare area there within 48 hours.
A bench headed by Justice Madan B. Lokur noted in its October 29 order. The court is dealing with a matter related to illegal mining activities in the Aravalli range.
The chief secretary of Rajasthan government has filled and affidavit which stated that there is no illegal mining going on in respect of 115.34 hectare land of Aravalli range.
In the affidavit, the chief secretary has also said that approximately 27% ground truthing of the area has been done. The concerned department will make serious efforts to complete the entire exercise within a period of three months as per directions of the top court. Ground truthing is an exercise conducted to ascertain the empirical evidence at the actual site.
Read more: On this Diwali CM Raje wishes for happiness and prosperity in the state
The SC’s observations on illegal mining
On October 23, the top court had observed that though Rajasthan was earning a royalty of around Rs 5,000 crore from mining activities in Aravalli. Further, it cannot endanger the lives of lakhs of people in Delhi as disappearance of hills there could be one of reasons for rise in pollution level in the national capital region (NCR).
Therefore, the court had also referred to a report of the central empowered committee (CEC). The report had said that out of 128 samples taken by the Forest Survey of India (FSI), as many as 31 hills or hillocks have vanished.
The state’s counsel had told the top court that all the government departments concerned in Rajasthan were “on the job” to stop illegal mining. The top court posted the matter for further hearing after three months.
