Rs 5 crore to Rs 363 crore in 10 yrs: Haryana revenue from legal mining sees uptick; activists call for checks

The SC had noted in submissions of Advocate K Parameshwar, the amicus curiae in the matter, that “no fresh mining leases or renewal of the existing ones shall be permitted” in the Aravalli ranges in Rajasthan and Haryana until further orders.

Meanwhile, the Haryana government’s report submitted during the Central Empowered Committee meeting in March this year showed the revenue in 2023-24 received from four districts where mining is legal was pegged at Rs 363.5 crore. This figure stood at Rs 5.15 crore in 2013-14, data showed.
There is a blanket ban on mining in the Aravalli hills of Faridabad, Gurgaon, and Nuh districts as per a 2009 order by the Supreme Court. However, mining is permissible in four districts — Rewari, Mahendergarh, Charkhi Dadri and Bhiwani — in the state.

In 10 years, data showed, the state government has raked in a revenue of Rs 3,621 crore, with the biggest jump in Bhiwani and Charkhi Dadri where Haryana’s revenue went from Rs 1.13 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 351 crore in 2023-24. The two districts have 16 mines — the leases of some extending till 2038 — over an area of 627.9 hectares. There are eight mines in Mahendragarh and one in Rewari. Meanwhile, the government said only three violations were recorded in these districts.

The prayer said, “In view of above, it is humbly submitted that as the CEC is fully aware of the legal position of the matter as being associated with the present case/litigation right from the beginning, it is requested that the State of Haryana may be allowed to resume its mining operations in the district of Faridabad and Nuh because as per the present circumstances/ availability of limited mineral resources qua the operational mines, the same would be exhausted in the coming years. Hence, the State may be allowed to resume its mining operations in parity with the adjoining state of Rajasthan.”

Neelam Ahluwalia, an environmentalist, said that she went on ground truthing trips to all seven districts of Haryana, where Aravallis fall, and found that the mountain ranges are rapidly getting destroyed in the state between legal and illegal mining. “… Haryana will soon become a desert… water-starved at the rate at which the Aravalli hills have been destroyed through legal and illegal mining,” Ahluwalia added.

The bench, meanwhile, had noted that Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for Haryana, Additional Solicitor General K M Nataraj appearing for Rajasthan, and an advocate representing the federation of mining associations in Rajasthan have opposed the suggestion of the amicus. It said they have submitted that millions of labourers were “dependent on mining activities” carried out in these states, and if such an order is passed, it will have a “cascading effect on their livelihood”.