Illegal mining at Aravalli: 582 complaints but one conviction in 6 years

Haryana police makes submission before National Green Tribunal about its investigation

The destruction of Aravallis, the 692-km-long mountain range starting near Delhi and ending in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad, due to illegal mining and real estate construction is well known. Some 9 million tonnes of minerals were excavated illegally at the range between 2011 and 2017, according to a 2019 report by the national auditor.

As illegal mining at the ecologically important range continues, hardly anyone is convicted for it, shows data submitted by the Haryana police to the National Green Tribunal (NGT).

There were 582 complaints against illegal mining in the range in Haryana’s Faridabad, Nuh, and Gurugram between January 1, 2017 and January 31, 2023. Only one complaint ended in conviction, according to an affidavit filed by the Haryana police. Of the total complaints received by the Haryana Police in the past six years, 507 were converted into first information reports (FIRs).

'Business Standard' has reviewed the Haryana police’s submission and the data. The police made the submission after the NGT, while hearing a plea by an environmental group called Aravali Bachao Citizens Movement, in March noted a substantial gap in the number of complaints received and FIRs registered.

Aravalli Bachao filed a petition in the NGT in April 2022, alleging that stones were being cleaved off the Aravallis in 16 places in Gurgaon and Nuh despite a Supreme Court ban on mining.

In 2002, the Supreme Court’s banned mining in the Aravallis in Faridabad, Gurugram, and Mewat (Nuh) to restore the range’s ecology.

The Supreme Court, again in an order in 2009, said all mining activities must be suspended till statutory provisions for restoration and reclamation were complied with, particularly in cases where pits or quarries had been abandoned.

Tejpal Yadav, an environmentalist in Mahendragarh district of Haryana and a petitioner in cases against stone crushing units, said the low conviction rate is worrying because illegal mining is a threat to the ecology and human life.

The issue made national headlines in July last year when Deputy Superintendent of Police Surender Singh Bishnoi was crushed by a group of illegal miners fleeing in a truck.

A majority of the complaints (303) received by Haryana police related to illegal transportation of minerals, followed by 259 for stone mining and 20 for illegally mined stock.

The highest number of complaints were registered in Nuh district (58 per cent), followed by Faridabad (20 per cent) and Gurugram (12 per cent), showed the police data between January 1, 2017 and January 31, 2023.