SC-Appointed Aravalli Panel Snubbed Mining-Impacted Villages and Villagers, Activists Allege

NEW DELHI — Rural communities and environmental activists across northern and western India have voiced sharp criticism over the conduct of the Supreme Court-appointed Aravalli committee, accusing panel members of failing to visit mining-impacted villages and bypassing meaningful consultations with affected local populations.

The high-powered panel was constituted to execute an independent review of the Central Government’s report regarding the definition and delineation of the ancient Aravalli hill range. The committee is slated to present its findings to the apex court by August 31.

According to a press statement released on Tuesday by the Aravalli Virasat Jan Abhiyaan—a collective of social activists, environmentalists, and grassroots organizations—the committee conducted field visits between August 6 and August 10, holding public hearings in four major cities: Gurugram, Alwar, Ajmer, and Udaipur.

However, grassroots leaders claim these urban hearings excluded the very communities living in the shadow of heavy industrial mining.

"Without meaningful consultations with the rural communities in all the 64 districts in the five states of Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat, no decision should be taken which will decide the fate of India's oldest mountain range," emphasized Neelam Ahluwalia, co-founder of the Aravalli Virasat Jan Abhiyaan.

While the Forest Survey of India’s September 2025 report delineates 63 districts along the range, local communities also consider the historical Braj Bhoomi hills in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh, as an integral extension of the Aravallis.

Allegations of Skipped Visits and Mining Lobby Dominance

Community leaders from impacted regions expressed deep frustration over skipped site inspections. Kailash Chand Yadhav, secretary of the Jodhpura Sangharsh Samiti, alleged that panel members deliberately bypassed Jodhpura village in Rajasthan's Kotputli-Behror district, despite the location being listed on their official schedule for the day. Residents in Jodhpura have long protested severe environmental degradation and health hazards caused by nearby limestone mining and stone-crushing operations operated by UltraTech Cement Limited.

"The committee members did not come to the village despite this visit being on their agenda for the day," Yadhav said. "The committee had lunch at a hotel for an hour, barely a few kilometers from our village, but failed to show up."

Activists further alleged that the public hearings were heavily influenced and dominated by commercial mining interests. Ahluwalia stated that representatives from the mining lobby showed up in large numbers during hearings in Alwar, Ajmer, and Udaipur, adding that urban civil society members and villagers who attempted to speak out against ecological destruction received threats following the meetings.

In Udaipur, procedural disruptions reportedly prevented indigenous voices from being heard. Sadhna Meena, a Bhil Adivasi leader, noted that the time slot for public interactions was abruptly rescheduled at the last minute.

"The original time given to meet the committee was 3 PM to 4 PM on August 10," Meena explained. "However, just the night before, the timing was suddenly changed to 10 AM. Since people were expected to travel from across the Udaipur division, including neighboring districts, many could not reach the venue on such short notice."

Widespread Pushback Over Exclusionary Consultation Process

The committee’s public consultation framework had already been drawing fire prior to the field trips. On July 21, the panel issued a public notice inviting feedback, suggestions, and documentary evidence from stakeholders within a 21-day window via email or a digital Google Form.

Multiple civic groups pointed out that relying exclusively on digital forms and email severely marginalized rural and tribal populations with limited internet connectivity or digital literacy.

On August 2, the Akhil Bharatiya Vanavasi Kalyan Ashram, a social welfare organization affiliated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), submitted a formal protest letter to the committee. The group highlighted that the notification was barely published in regional mainstream newspapers, particularly in Hindi and Gujarati—the primary spoken languages across Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, and Delhi.

Similarly, environmental collective People for Aravallis wrote to the committee on August 4, warning that a 21-day submission timeframe was vastly inadequate for grassroots communities to prepare detailed feedback supported by verifiable evidence.

In light of these procedural shortcomings, the Aravalli Virasat Jan Abhiyaan has formally demanded an immediate extension of the August 31 report submission deadline, urging the Supreme Court committee to conduct comprehensive, transparent, and accessible field visits across all affected districts of the Aravalli range before finalizing its recommendations.