Retired foresters write to PM Modi seeking scrapping of Aravalli Zoo safari project
The retired officers said the Aravalli mountain range has been damaged beyond repair over the last few decades due to mining and construction activities.
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The foresters have also urged immediate conservation efforts for the ancient mountain range, citing the devastating impact of mining, real estate development, and deforestation. (Image: aravallibachao)A group of 37 retired principal chief conservators of forests and other former Indian Forest Service (IFS) officers from across the country have recently written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, opposing the proposed 10,000-acre Aravalli Zoo safari project in Gurugram and Nuh districts of Haryana.
The foresters have also urged immediate conservation efforts for the ancient mountain range, citing the devastating impact of mining, real estate development, and deforestation.
Spread over an area of 692 km, the Aravallis extend from Gujarat to Delhi, spanning the states of Rajasthan and Haryana. In 2022, then-Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar stated that the first phase of the proposed Aravalli Zoo safari project would be completed within two years.
Calling for the scrapping of the Zoo safari project, the letter reads: “The aim of the Aravalli Zoo safari project is to increase tourist footfall in the state of Haryana and to increase government and private investment in the tourism sector. Conservation of the Aravallis is not the goal.”
The former foresters further wrote, “Apart from increasing human footfall, vehicular traffic and construction in the ecologically sensitive area, the proposed safari park will also disturb the aquifers under the Aravalli hills that are critical reserves for the water-starved districts of Gurugram and Nuh.”
The aquifers are linked, so any changes can impact groundwater. The zoo safari project’s planned “underwater zone” might change water levels in the water-scarce area, as per the letter.
“The primary purpose of any intervention in the eco-sensitive Aravalli region must be ‘conservation and restoration’ and not destruction that projects like the zoo safari will bring… For Haryana state having the lowest forest cover in India at around 3.6%, the Aravalli range is the only saving grace, providing the major portion of its forest cover. If left untouched, the Aravalli range would be enough to bring back humidity and sufficient rainfall in this dry region,” Dr Arvind Jha, retired PCCF from Maharashtra, said.
The retired officers said the Aravalli mountain range has been damaged beyond repair over the last few decades due to mining and construction activities.
“The mining mafia carries out the illegal quarrying of rocks with complete disregard to environmental norms for obtaining building materials to feed the hungry ever-expanding real estate industry in the National Capital Region of Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Faridabad and Ghaziabad. We understand that the mining fetches Rs 5000 crore annually as royalty from mining companies but this revenue generation is at the cost of destruction of our rivers, mountains, forests. During 1972-75, the Aravalli districts in Rajasthan recorded 10,462 sq. km of area under various categories of forest. By 1981-84, the forest cover reduced to 6,116 sq. km,” the letter states.
“…Destruction of this fragile ecosystem is causing significant irreversible biodiversity losses, land degradation and decline in vegetation cover negatively impacting communities, cattle and wildlife living in the lap of the Aravallis,” stated Dr R P Balwan, retired conservator of forest, South Circle, Haryana.
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