Environment organisation Aravalli Virasat Jan Abhiyan on Thursday announced that it would undertake a 700km Aravalli Sanrakshan Yatra from January 24 to save the mountain range.
The announcement was made at a media conference where the organisation questioned the so-called "sustainable mining plans" in the oldest mountain range. "The Aravallis require strict protection, not senseless definitions to exclude the majority of the areas from legal protection and so-called sustainable mining plans,” said environmentalist Neelam Ahluwalia, also a member of the Abhiyan.
"The Aravallis have been bleeding for the last few decades as a result of deforestation, licensed and illegal mining, real estate development with hill after hill being razed to the ground and waste dumping poisoning our aquifers,” she said, explaining the roadmap of the campaign.
The movement will start from Gujarat and travel through all Aravalli districts in the four states — Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Delhi. The movement will continue for 40 days. The campaign will engage with rural communities dependent on the range for their sustenance.