Overview
- The environment ministry directed all four states to stop approving fresh mining leases across the range from Delhi to Gujarat to preserve the ridge and curb unregulated extraction.
- ICFRE will draft a Management Plan for Sustainable Mining that assesses cumulative impacts and identifies additional no-mining zones, with a draft to be placed in the public domain for consultations.
- States were told to enforce strict compliance for existing mines with environmental safeguards and Supreme Court orders, including tighter, additional restrictions.
- The order follows the Supreme Court’s November 20 acceptance of a uniform definition using a 100‑metre elevation test for Aravalli hills and a 500‑metre clustering rule for ranges.
- Opposition leaders and experts continue to challenge the government’s 0.19% mining footprint claim and warn the definition could exclude ecologically important low ridges, with Rajasthan Congress planning mass protests.