Jaipur, Dec. 26 (Reuters) – Rajasthan’s Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma fired a sharp rebuke at former CM Ashok Gehlot over remarks Gehlot made about the Aravalli mountain range. Sharma told reporters that the Congress-led government had even “not spared the stones and sand of the Aravalli region,” claiming the party had been indifferent to the fragile geology of the area.
CM Sharma questioned the changes to how the Aravalli range had been defined in 2002‑03 and again in 2009‑10, and asked how many mining leases the state had issued during those years. He accused the opposition of spreading falsehoods and warned that “no tampering with the Aravalli mountain range would be allowed.” The chief minister dismissed Congress leaders as “spreading rumours,” and pointed to the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) debates, saying the party had “created unnecessary unrest and misinformation” while noting the state had managed to implement the law without major disruption. He added that displaced people had still received leases.
Sharma also claimed that Congress officials were saying the Constitution would be altered and queried the State Intelligence Report (SIR). He asked whether they were allegedly backing infiltrators, and assured the public that none would be allowed to stay.
Turning to Gehlot, the CM branded him a “Twitter master” whose influence had faded, saying, “His magic will not work anymore. He will have to reap what he has sown.”
On Dec. 24, the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF & CC) announced a sweeping measure to curb illegal mining and protect the ecological integrity of the Aravallis. The ministry ordered all state governments to impose a “complete ban on the grant of any new mining leases in the Aravallis,” covering the entire mountain range from Delhi to Gujarat. The ban aims to preserve the range as a continuous geological ridge spanning from Gujarat to the National Capital Region and to shut down all unregulated mining activities.
Additional steps include the ministry directing the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE) to identify further areas across the Aravalli range where mining must be prohibited, beyond the zones already restricted by the Centre. The identification will be based on ecological, geological, and landscape‑level studies. ICFRE is also tasked with drafting a comprehensive, science‑based Management Plan for Sustainable Mining (MPSM) for the entire Aravalli region. The plan will be made public for wide stakeholder consultation, assessing cumulative environmental impacts, ecological carrying capacity, critical conservation zones, and outlining restoration and rehabilitation measures.
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