Long before the Aravallis of Gurugram, Faridabad, or Alwar became the subject of environmental litigation, Delhi’s Ridge absorbed decades of ecological damage. Even before Independence, villages such as Naraina and Khampur were quarried extensively to supply stone for the construction of Lutyens’ Delhi. After 1947, extraction intensified. For decades, areas like the Bhatti Mines in South Delhi supplied silica sand, stone, and other minerals that fuelled the city’s rapid expansion.
The Aravallis and Why Environmental Justice Requires an Honest Reckoning - The Wire
Much of this mining was poorly regulated, and in many instances, outright illegal. Over more than 40 years, entire hill systems were hollowed out, permanently weakening Delhi’s natural defences against pollution, heat, and water scarcity.
Protecting the Aravallis requires more than green rhetoric and selective prohibitions. It demands an honest reckoning that begins where the damage began.
Delhi must first set its own house in order: by initiating a transparent inquiry into long-pending mining recoveries, fixing administrative responsibility, and acknowledging the true environmental and financial costs of its past actions.
Only then can India build a coherent, just, and constitutionally sound framework for conserving the Aravallis across state boundaries – one that treats the range as a single ecological entity, not a patchwork of political jurisdictions.
by Paras Tyagi
30/12/2025