Rajasthan Opposition leader, MPs and ecologists seek wider consultation on Aravallis

A high-powered committee formed in May this year to resolve critical ambiguities pertaining to an earlier report submitted

The committee's deadline is August 31, but experts have pointed out that the panel covered very few districts in Rajasthan, even though the extent of the Aravallis is mostly across the state. For related coverage, explore our detailed analysis on Technology and Digital Systems.

Key Analysis and Detailed Timeline

Rajasthan's Leader of Opposition Congress MLA Tikaram Jully has written to the panel flagging inadequate engagement with mining-impacted communities and urging them to seek more time from the court to evaluate the issues.

Civil society groups, environmental activists, and mining-impacted communities have been demanding that the committee's deadline for its report be extended.

Banswara MP Rajkumar Roat has demanded that the panel's deadline be extended and that this be followed

Broader Impact and Sector Outlook

Independent ecologist Pradip Krishen has said that a cumulative and independent environmental and social impact study for all 63 Aravalli districts is needed.

The HPC was formed in May this year with a mandate, among other things, to resolve critical ambiguities pertaining to an earlier report submitted The Supreme Court had earlier accepted this previous panel’s recommendation defining the Aravallis as any landform within the region with an elevation of 100 metres or above the local relief, including its slopes and adjacent land.

However, the court stayed its own order in December 2025.

Ahead of the Supreme Court-constituted high-powered committee’s (HPC) August 31 deadline to submit its report on the examination of the Aravallis issue, Rajasthan's Leader of Opposition Congress MLA Tikaram Jully, MPs from the state and noted independent experts like ecologist Pradip Krishen have written to the panel flagging inadequate engagement with mining-impacted communities, and urged the panel to seek more time from the court to evaluate the issues. In his letter to the panel dated August 25, Jully has pointed out gaps in the stakeholder engagement across Rajasthan and stressed that the panel covered very few districts, even as the Aravalli's extent is mostly across Rajasthan.

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Rajkumar Roat, an MP from the Bharat Adivasi Party representing Banswara, and Amra Ram, an MP from the Communist Party of India (Marxist) representing Sikar, are among the parliamentarians who have submitted their views to the HPC. They highlighted the health and environmental issues that communities in the Aravalli region are facing due to mining activities.

The HPC had called for stakeholder comments for a 21-day period, which ended on August 11. Civil society groups, environmental activists and mining-impacted communities have been calling for that the HPC seek more time to submit its report, as the panel has visited only a limited number of urban areas in the Aravallis.

Banswara MP Roat, who belongs to the Bhil community, stated that tribal people have lived in the Aravalli hills, forests and rivers since time immemorial, and mining leases have caused significant damage in the region. Roat demanded that the HPC’s deadline for its report submissions be extended, and that this be followed “The committee should also consult with health experts, and the leases of mining companies that violated regulations should be cancelled and responsibility for damages determined,” he stated in his letter dated August 14.

Sikar MP Amra Ram made more specific demands, including seeking protection for the Girjan River and the forests and ‘oran’ or sacred groves along the river stretch. “The Girjan River ecosystem, which includes 40 villages, hamlets, and the Buchara dam, be declared a mining and stone crushing zone,” the CPI(M) MP stated.

He also sought protection for the Sota and Katli rivers in Kotputli and Jhunjhunu districts. Krishen stated that a cumulative and independent environmental and social impact study for all 63 Aravallis districts, as mentioned in the Forest Survey of India’s September 2025 report, is needed.

“The study must be done This study will give a clear picture of the carrying capacity of the Aravalli range. Mindlessly mining North India’s lifeline for clean air and water security for building stone and exporting marble and granite to foreign countries makes no sense when we are one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to climate change and pollution, and heat levels are soaring,” he stated.

Krishen has led degraded land restoration projects in Rajasthan. The HPC was formed in May this year with a mandate, among other things, to resolve critical ambiguities pertaining to an earlier report submitted The Supreme Court had earlier accepted this previous panel’s recommendation defining the Aravallis as any landform within the region with an elevation of 100 metres or above the local relief, including its slopes and adjacent land.

However, the court stayed its own order in December 2025.