The Urgent Call to Save Delhi's Aravalli Hills
The Aravalli hills, a crucial ecological buffer for the National Capital Region, are facing severe degradation due to quarrying, construction, and waste dumping. Citizen reports highlight the urgent need for intervention.
AravalliEnvironmental DegradationCitizen ReportsNatural ConservationGovernanceReal EstateSep 01, 2025
The two-part Citizens’ Reports, published by People for Aravallis in May, provide a comprehensive record of ecological degradation and institutional failure. Rich in maps, satellite imagery, testimonies from the ground, court rulings, and scientific documentation, these reports not only critique state neglect but also offer a clear-eyed account of what is being lost and why.
Several violations have been geo-tagged and catalogued across the seven Aravalli districts in south Haryana. These include new road constructions, forest clearances, illegal encroachments, mining activity, and solid waste dumping in areas declared as Natural Conservation Zones. These zones are designated to protect natural features such as hills, rivers, and forests.
Perhaps the most visible symbol of this collapse is the Bandhwari landfill, which has grown into a festering mountain of untreated urban waste on the edge of a forest since 2008. Despite being within the Natural Conservation Zone and Aravalli hills, Bandhwari continues to receive waste from Gurgaon and Faridabad daily. The leachate from the landfill has been seeping into the groundwater, and open burning is a regular occurrence.
In 2019, the Bandhwari landfill, with 35 lakh tonnes of waste, stood taller than the surrounding Aravalli hills. By April 2025, it was reported that the landfill size had reduced to 13 lakh tonnes of waste. This reduction suggests that 22 lakh tonnes of waste have disappeared over five years. Where has all this waste gone?
Over the last few years, hazardous solid waste from the Bandhwari landfill has been dumped in mining quarries and forest areas in various locations in the Aravallis in Gurugram and Faridabad districts. These areas are critical for recharging water in India’s National Capital Region and serve as vital wildlife habitats that should not contain any toxic waste.
In Mangar Bani in Faridabad district, known for its dense sacred groves, the encroachment has taken another form. Religious structures are springing up on forest land, and real estate projects continue to push boundaries, often in blatant violation of zoning norms. Aerial images show fresh roads carved out through previously intact hill tracts.
The reports also make clear what is at stake. The Aravallis are not an isolated ecosystem. They play a vital role in protecting the Indo-Gangetic plains from the desertification creeping east from the Thar. These hills act as a natural barrier for windblown sand, regulate groundwater flows, and moderate extreme heat.
In Delhi and its surrounding region, the Aravallis help buffer rising temperatures and stabilize local climate patterns. With each hill quarried and patch of forest cleared, this capacity is eroded.
If the Aravallis are dying, it is not for lack of knowledge but lack of political will. The Citizens’ Reports lay bare not only the ecological decline but the institutional complicity and bureaucratic indifference that has enabled it. There is no shortage of policies or court rulings. What is missing is enforcement, coordination, and commitment.
Across the National Capital Region, the Natural Conservation Zones were established to protect sensitive areas from unregulated development. These were included in the Regional Plan 2021 under the National Capital Region Planning Board. Yet, states like Haryana have repeatedly tried to dilute or bypass these provisions, sometimes by simply not notifying critical zones or by misclassifying forest land to favor real estate and infrastructure projects.
Another layer of this crisis is the fragmentation of responsibilities. The Forest Department controls one aspect, the Pollution Control Board another, and land-use decisions often rest with revenue or urban development authorities. This allows blame to be shifted endlessly while violations persist, resulting in a governance vacuum where private interests flourish and public interest recedes.
The proximity of the Aravallis to Delhi makes them prime real estate. Quarrying, construction, and waste disposal are lucrative businesses. The reports hint at how political patronage and informal networks enable violations to continue despite court orders. Cases linger for years in the National Green Tribunal, which deals with environmental protection, or the Supreme Court. By the time action is taken, the damage is often irreversible.
The lack of credible environmental impact assessments and the weakening of institutions like the environment ministry, the National Green Tribunal, and local forest rights committees have further hollowed out the regulatory framework. This is a case of deliberate neglect and a governance system that prioritizes short-term profit over long-term ecological security.
Across villages and towns in the Aravalli belt, communities have not stopped fighting. The Citizens’ Reports are testimony to this. Local residents have mapped forest boundaries, documented illegal mining, resisted eviction, and filed petitions. In villages like Mangar, Khori Khurd, Rajawas, Dholera, Ramalwas, and many others, citizens have refused to be silenced, even when their own government fails them. But citizen advocacy can only go so far. Without systemic reform in land-use planning, environmental clearance protocols, inter-agency coordination, and judicial follow-through, the Aravallis will continue to erode. What is needed is not more paperwork but political courage.
Reimagining the Aravallis calls for a radical rethinking of urbanization, not just in Delhi, but in every city creeping into its nearby forests. We must ask: what kind of cities are we building? Can there be an urbanism that listens to the land? As Delhi reels under heatwaves and water crises, the connection becomes clear. India cannot build climate resilience while destroying its climate buffers. No amount of air-conditioned metro lines or tree-planting drives will make up for the erasure of hill systems that stabilize weather, filter water, and breathe life into our settlements.
Reclaiming the Aravallis also means reimagining governance. It means empowering local bodies, especially gram sabhas and urban residents’ groups, to monitor and protect ecologically sensitive areas. It means using citizen science, open data, and community mapping as legitimate tools in environmental decision-making. But perhaps most urgently, it means shifting the story. From one of ecological neglect to one of collective responsibility. From a politics of extraction to a politics of care. From expert-led declarations to citizen-led action.
The Aravalli Citizens’ Reports demand that the Aravallis be declared a “no-go area” for mining, waste dumping, burning, and landfills and that a law be enacted to make their destruction an ecological crime. These solutions require political will, only if the governments are willing to listen: not just to facts and figures, but to the sounds of a mountain being broken, to the voices of those who live on its slopes, and to the wisdom that comes from knowing that not all progress is growth.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main issue facing the Aravalli hills?
The main issue facing the Aravalli hills is severe ecological degradation due to quarrying, construction, and waste dumping, which are eroding the hills' capacity to protect the region from extreme weather and environmental issues.
What are the Natural Conservation Zones in the Aravalli region?
Natural Conservation Zones in the Aravalli region are areas designated to protect natural features such as hills, rivers, and forests from unregulated development. These zones are crucial for maintaining the ecological balance of the region.
What role do the Aravalli hills play in the National Capital Region?
The Aravalli hills play a vital role in the National Capital Region by acting as a natural barrier against desertification, regulating groundwater flows, moderating extreme heat, and buffering rising temperatures.
What are the key findings of the Citizens’ Reports on the Aravalli hills?
The key findings of the Citizens’ Reports include geo-tagged violations such as new road constructions, forest clearances, illegal encroachments, mining activity, and solid waste dumping in the Aravalli districts. These reports highlight the urgent need for intervention and enforcement of existing policies.
What solutions are proposed in the Citizens’ Reports to protect the Aravalli hills?
The Citizens’ Reports propose declaring the Aravalli hills a ‘no-go area’ for mining, waste dumping, burning, and landfills and enacting a law that makes their destruction an ecological crime. They also advocate for systemic reforms in governance, land-use planning, and environmental clearance protocols.
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