Jaipur, Dec 22 (IANS) Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has strongly criticised the Union government’s move to change the definition of the Aravali range, calling it misleading, factually hollow, and driven by vested interests.
He also rejected Union Minister Bhupender Yadav’s claim that mining would be permitted on only 0.19 per cent of the Aravalli area, terming it an attempt to mislead the public through selective statistics.
Gehlot said the new “100-metre definition” of the Aravali cannot be viewed in isolation. When examined alongside two major policy decisions taken by the Union government, it becomes clear that this is not an exercise in environmental protection but a deliberate plan to hand over the Aravali ecosystem to the mining mafia through institutional capture.
He shed light on how the protector was turned into a predator and how the CEC was neutralised.
Gehlot alleged that through a notification issued on September 5, 2023, the Union government deliberately weakened the Central Empowered Committee (CEC)—formed in 2002 under the supervision of the Supreme Court to protect the environment—by removing it from the Court’s oversight and placing it under the Ministry of Environment.
The committee, which was earlier an independent, court-monitored body, was converted into a permanent government committee through executive notification.
Earlier, CEC members were appointed with the Supreme Court’s approval. Post-notification, the Central Government assumed complete control over appointments, effectively turning the CEC into an instrument of the government.
“This is the same CEC whose independent report led to the arrest of a powerful BJP minister, Janardhan Reddy, in an illegal mining case in Karnataka on September 5, 2011,” Gehlot said.
“Exactly 12 years later, on September 5, 2023, the same watchdog was strangled and reduced to a rubber stamp.”
He questioned whether the government feared that if the CEC remained independent, mining approvals in protected regions such as Aravalli and Sariska would not be granted. Gehlot also attacked the central government on the Sariska Model.
Calling Union Minister Bhupender Yadav’s statements incomplete and misleading, Gehlot pointed to the Sariska Tiger Reserve as proof of the government’s real intent.
The Rajasthan government had declared 881 sq km as Critical Tiger Habitat (CTH) for Sariska, banning mining within one kilometre of the area. In 2025, the BJP-led Rajasthan government proposed a “rationalisation” of the CTH boundaries under the pretext of land exchange.
“The real objective,” Gehlot said, “was to revive more than 50 marble and dolomite mines that were shut down because they fell within the prohibited zone. By pushing back the boundary, these mines would have been legitimised.”
Gehlot highlighted the extraordinary speed with which approvals were granted: June 24, 2025: Rajasthan State Wildlife Board cleared the proposal June 25, 2025: National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) approved it June 26, 2025: Standing Committee of the National Board for Wildlife stamped it This followed the deliberate postponement of the National Wildlife Board meeting from June 11 to June 26 to accommodate the proposal.
On August 6, 2025, the Supreme Court stayed the decision and sharply questioned how a process that usually takes months was completed in just 48 hours.
“This observation alone exposes the government’s intent,” Gehlot said, adding that efforts to alter the Sariska boundary continue even today.
Citing a recent report, Gehlot made serious allegations, stating that a mine owner from Thanagazi, K.S. Rathore, wrote to the Prime Minister’s Office on June 14, alleging that mine owners were being asked to “collect money” to restart mining operations.
The same report quoted a CEC member, speaking anonymously, as saying, “We want to finish this before the Supreme Court’s deadline because Minister Bhupender Yadav is personally monitoring it.”
“This statement proves that the CEC is no longer accountable to the Supreme Court but is functioning to fulfil ministerial directives,” Gehlot said.
Gehlot asked how anyone could trust claims that mining would be restricted to just 0.19 per cent of the Aravalli when both the Centre and the Rajasthan government have repeatedly attempted to dilute even protected areas.
“First the definition of Aravalli was altered. Then the boundaries of Sariska were targeted. Rajasthan will not tolerate this systematic assault on its natural heritage,” he said.
–IANS
arc/dan