Context: Ahead of the hearing of a petition by Haryana government seeking permission for mining in Aravalis in Gurugram and Faridabad in the Supreme Court, environmentalists and the residents are strongly opposed to mining being legalised and demand that forest cover be increased in the State.
Objections incurred on the mining and real estate  

• In an email campaign to the Chief Justice of India, the residents have been demanding that no mining and real estate be allowed in the Aravalis. 
• Instead, the government should come out with a three-year roadmap to take the legal native forest cover in the State to 20%, as per the Haryana Forest Department policy target and an all-India average. 

The other demands include 

• Demolition of all illegal construction in the Aravalis, 
• Planting of native sablings, 
• Notifying 50,000 acre of the Aravalis as deemed forest and retaining the Aravalis in South Haryana as Natural Conservation Zone. 

Issue Related to pollutions 

• The residents argued that the destruction of the Aravalis would worsen the air pollution situation in the NCR and the mountain range is the only natural barrier against desertification. 
• The Aravalis, with their natural cracks and fissures, have the potential to put two million litres of water per hectare in the ground every year. 

As per the Economic Survey of Haryana 2020-21, as many as 58 mines out of the total 119 have been allocated. 

• More than 26,000 cases of illegal mining, including 1,358 till September 2020 for the current financial year, have been reported. 
• Besides, the collection from mining for 2020-21, till January, is 770.00 crore - the highest since 2005-06. 

Mining activities in Aravalli Hills 

• Recently, the Haryana government has appealed to the Supreme Court to permit it to resume mining in the Aravalli Hills on the grounds that the pandemic had grounded the State?s economy to a halt. 
• Mining in the Aravalli region has been banned since 2002 under the Supreme Court orders, unless expressly permitted by the Union Environment Ministry. However, mining continues illegally. 
• The green wall is being planned from Porbandar to Panipat which will help in restoring degraded land through afforestation along the Aravali hill range. 
• Residents along with volunteers from iamgurgaon, a citizen action group involved in the conservation of the Aravallis, were assisted by ecologists to create a self-sustaining Aravalli. 
• This society driven model could be more effective to combat the degradation. 

Threats posed out of it 

• The Aravalli hills are an ecologically sensitive zone but have for years borne the brunt of quarrying and environmental degradation. 
• A 2018 report by a Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) found out that 25% of the Aravalli range has been lost due to illegal mining in Rajasthan since 1967-68. 
• The consequences of the mining has been a destruction of aquifers and deforestation. Many rivers originating in the Aravalli like Banas, Luni, Sahibi and Sakhi, are now dead. 

Significance of the Aravallis 

• The Aravallis act as a barrier between the fertile plains in the east and the sandy desert in the west. 
• Historically, it is said that the Aravalli range checked the spread of the Thar desert towards the Indo-Gangetic plains, serving as a catchment of rivers and plains. 
• Provides habitat to 300 native plant species, 120 bird species and many exclusive animals like the jackal and mongoose. 
• Aravallis have an impact upon the climate of northwest India and beyond. 
• During monsoons, it provides a barrier and monsoon clouds move eastwards towards Shimla and Nainital, thus helping nurture the sub-Himalayan rivers and feeding the north Indian plains. 
• In the winter months, it protects the fertile alluvial river valleys from the cold westerly winds from Central Asia. 
• Aravallis also functions as a groundwater recharge zone for the regions around that absorb rainwater and revive the groundwater level. 
• This range is considered the “lungs” for the polluted air of Delhi–National Capital Region (NCR). 
• For Haryana, having the lowest forest cover at around 3.59% of the total forest cover in India, the Aravalli range is the only saving grace, providing the major portion of its forest cover (2017 Report).