<p>Mumbai: Taking cognisance of pleas by environmental groups to declare hill ranges as strict no-development zones (NDZ), the President of India has referred the issue to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).</p><p>Responding to a representation by the Navi Mumbai-based NatConnect Foundation opposing the government’s plans to open parts of the Aravalli Hills to mining, the President’s Secretariat said the matter has been forwarded to the Statutory Unit (SU) of the MoEFCC for examination.</p><p>The Statutory Unit functions as the ministry’s regulatory scrutiny arm, responsible for examining representations, statutory compliance under environmental laws, policy implications, and legal or inter-departmental issues before a formal response or decision is taken.</p><p>According to NatConnect Director B N Kumar, the Secretariat has referred the plea to Debabrata Das, Deputy Secretary, MoEFCC, citing the foundation’s submission that no artificial or engineered intervention can substitute for natural systems formed over millions of years.</p>.Democracy under attack, govt misusing central agencies: Haryana Congress leader Kumari Selja.<p>In a press statement issued in Mumbai, NatConnect said the Aravallis may be the most visible example at present, but similar pressures are mounting on other hill systems across the country, including the Himalayas, the Vindhyas, the Parsik Hills, the Sahyadris, the Kharghar–Belapur Hills and the Eastern Ghats.</p><p>The concern extends beyond any single region. Hill ranges nationwide are increasingly being cut, mined or built upon through policy loopholes, fragmented clearances and diluted safeguards, the foundation said.</p><p>“Viksit Bharat cannot be realised by weakening its natural foundations,” Kumar said, pointing to consequences already evident on the ground — destruction of groundwater recharge zones, worsening water scarcity, intensifying heatwaves and dust storms, increased flooding linked to hill-cutting, irreversible loss of forests and wildlife, deteriorating air quality, rising public health costs and a steady erosion of climate resilience,” he said. </p><p>“A truly Viksit Bharat requires water security, climate resilience and ecological stability,” Kumar said, arguing that protecting hill ranges is not anti-development but essential to long-term development protection. He called for decisive national action to grant clear, uniform and non-negotiable NDZ status to all hill ranges, beginning with the Aravallis.</p>
<p>Mumbai: Taking cognisance of pleas by environmental groups to declare hill ranges as strict no-development zones (NDZ), the President of India has referred the issue to the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC).</p><p>Responding to a representation by the Navi Mumbai-based NatConnect Foundation opposing the government’s plans to open parts of the Aravalli Hills to mining, the President’s Secretariat said the matter has been forwarded to the Statutory Unit (SU) of the MoEFCC for examination.</p><p>The Statutory Unit functions as the ministry’s regulatory scrutiny arm, responsible for examining representations, statutory compliance under environmental laws, policy implications, and legal or inter-departmental issues before a formal response or decision is taken.</p><p>According to NatConnect Director B N Kumar, the Secretariat has referred the plea to Debabrata Das, Deputy Secretary, MoEFCC, citing the foundation’s submission that no artificial or engineered intervention can substitute for natural systems formed over millions of years.</p>.Democracy under attack, govt misusing central agencies: Haryana Congress leader Kumari Selja.<p>In a press statement issued in Mumbai, NatConnect said the Aravallis may be the most visible example at present, but similar pressures are mounting on other hill systems across the country, including the Himalayas, the Vindhyas, the Parsik Hills, the Sahyadris, the Kharghar–Belapur Hills and the Eastern Ghats.</p><p>The concern extends beyond any single region. Hill ranges nationwide are increasingly being cut, mined or built upon through policy loopholes, fragmented clearances and diluted safeguards, the foundation said.</p><p>“Viksit Bharat cannot be realised by weakening its natural foundations,” Kumar said, pointing to consequences already evident on the ground — destruction of groundwater recharge zones, worsening water scarcity, intensifying heatwaves and dust storms, increased flooding linked to hill-cutting, irreversible loss of forests and wildlife, deteriorating air quality, rising public health costs and a steady erosion of climate resilience,” he said. </p><p>“A truly Viksit Bharat requires water security, climate resilience and ecological stability,” Kumar said, arguing that protecting hill ranges is not anti-development but essential to long-term development protection. He called for decisive national action to grant clear, uniform and non-negotiable NDZ status to all hill ranges, beginning with the Aravallis.</p>