RAJAWAS (MAHENDERGARH): In the 24 hours that the Aravali tracts of Rajawas in Haryana’s Mahendergarh were notified as ‘protected forest‘ by one Haryana govt department, one-fourth of this land happened to be auctioned off by the mining department.
On July 20, 2023, the forest department issued a notification to cover 506 acres of Aravalis in Rajawas village under the Forest (Conservation) Act.This portion of the hills is part of the Aravalis that are to be conserved and revived as a swap to make up for the loss of a million trees in Great Nicobar, where a mega infrastructure project is under way.
“Under this notification… mentioned areas in district Mahendergarh are declared as protected forest…” the notification by the forest department read. The notice goes on to mention Rajawas khasra numbers from 91 till 124. The Rajawas land is a fraction of the 22,400 hectares that got protected forest status earlier this year as a result of the compensatory afforestation swap.
But the same day, a parallel process concerning the same tract of land culminated in the state’s mining department carrying out an e-auction to give 119.5 acres of these 506 acres for mining. A company was chosen and awarded a 10-year lease on Aug 4 to quarry stones up to 1.4 metric tonnes per annum and deploy three stone crushers there.
“You offered the highest bid for obtaining the mining lease of minor mineral mines namely Rajawas for extracting stone in khasra number 91, 96, 97, 98, 99, 102 and 103 in Rajawas village for a period of 10 years… you become the successful bidder for this mine,” read the letter by the mining department’s director to the firm.
Asked how it could have happened, Mahendergarh mining officer Dr Rajesh Kumar told TOI that the department was not aware at the time of the auction that the Rajawas land was to be covered under FCA. Areas covered by FCA cannot be diverted for any construction or development without prior permission from the forest department.
“We had carried out a district mineral survey. A report was uploaded on the district website and objections were sought. After 21 days, as we didn’t receive any objections, we went ahead and carried out an e-auction. We have not violated any norms. In case the panchayat had gone to the forest department to change the status of the area, then it is wrong as it was already part of the proposed mining plan,” he said.
A forest department official said on the condition of anonymity: “We have not granted an NOC (no-objection certificate) to carry out mining in Rajawas. As the khasra numbers mention, the area is already a protected forest.”
According to rules, mining in a non-forest area can only be carried out if it is approved by the Rajawas panchayat as the land parcel is owned by the village. If it is forest land – i.e. covered under FCA – the mining department will need not just the panchayat’s consent but also clearance from the forest department.
The agency that is supposed to facilitate consent from the panchayat for mining is Haryana State Pollution Control Board.
Asked how forest land was auctioned for mining, HSPCB regional officer for Mahendergarh Krishna Kumar said the board had followed “due process”.
“In such cases, a public hearing is carried out. The project proponent (mining firm) submitted Rs 1.5 crore with the board for the hearing. We will submit any objections to mining with SEEIA (state environment impact assessment authority) and then it will approach MoEF (Union environment ministry) for forest clearance. At the present stage, there is no requirement for an NOC from the forest department,” Kumar said.
Asked the same question, HSPCB chairperson P Raghavendra Rao said he will investigate the matter. “We have cancelled the public hearing, which was to be held on Sept 17,” he said.
Locals, who had been pushing the govt to conserve the Aravalis near Rajawas long before the FCA notification, had thought that the protected forest tag would ease their worries.
“We do not want mining here. In 2016, we saw it happen for a few months and it was devastating. We couldn’t sleep. Children kept crying. Cracks developed in houses… We had protested then and we are not going to allow it now,” said Mohit Ghughu, the village sarpanch.
Rohtas Sharma, a resident, questioned how a mining licence could be given when the area had been declared a protected forest. “Why is Haryana govt allowing this on our hills despite this status?” he asked.
Others said that farming was the only livelihood for the village. Any attempt at mining will destroy the hills and affect their ability to recharge groundwater. “We are anyway in a zone where we consume more groundwater than it recharges. Allowing mining will only worsen it,” said Chiranjeevi Lal, a villager.
Former sarpanch Artar Singh said the village has lived in harmony with wildlife over the years because there was ample space to co-exist.
“Back in 2016, when a mining firm started work, wild animals started venturing into the village and there were some attacks too. Now, there is no such issue and we do not wish to have any more problems. We live close to the Aravalis and wild animals have never caused any problems unless their habitat is disturbed or destroyed,” he said.
According to documents, the move to protect the Aravalis in Rajawas was initiated after the Union environment ministry in Nov 2022 gave its approval for the Centre to go ahead with the project in Great Nicobar. It was later decided that compensatory afforestation for this project will be carried out in the Aravalis.
The Aravali tracts notified as protected forest are spread over Gurgaon, Nuh, Rewari, Mahendergarh and Charkhi Dadri.
Experts told TOI mining could not begin in Rajawas till forest status was denotified.
“Permission under Van Adhiniyam Act, 1980, along with consent from the gram sabha, is mandatory for any mining activity in forest areas, regardless of environmental clearance. It is the duty of the state to ensure that no mining activity takes place without these permissions,” said Debadityo Sinha, lead (climate and ecosystems), at Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.
“According to the Lafarge judgment of 2011 of Supreme Court, if an area is a forest, then prior forest clearance has to be applied for before going ahead with statutory environmental appraisal process. In this case, the forest NOC is also pending,” said forest analyst Chetan Agarwal.
“Without an NOC, the mining department can’t plan or carry out any public hearing to conduct mining in protected forest areas. Also, how can they plan to carry mining just 50 metres away from human habitation? Mining causes silicosis and it is a health hazard. It can’t happen so close to the village,” said R P Balwan, former conservator of forest (south Haryana).