New Delhi: A day before the Supreme Court stayed its earlier order and directed that a new committee be formed to look into the concerns surrounding the definition of Aravallis, water expert and conservationist Rajendra Singh urged that the apex court on Sunday (December 28) discharge its duty and protect the Aravallis. Underlining that he was “deeply distressed” by the November 20 judgment of the Supreme Court which prescribed a new and uniform definition of the Aravallis, Singh said that the new definition “effectively” breaks the “integrity and continuity of the Aravali eco-system into thousands of hillocks, opening the rest of more than 90% of the area open for mining and development”.This is the same concern that numerous environmentalists including Singh had highlighted before, as The Wire reported in early December.‘The Aravallis is not an object’As per the new definition, only hills above 100 meters above the local terrain are to be considered as the ‘Aravalli Hills and Ranges’.“There is no 100 m hillock along the Delhi-Haryana border. Thus, I believe it may open all those protected areas of the Aravali for new mining and development and allow the Thar desert to enter Delhi,” Singh, also known as the ‘Waterman’ of India, said in his letter to the CJI.The Aravalli is “not an object,” he noted in his letter, but “an ecosystem of hills with gentle slopes”. Also read: Supreme Court Stays Own Order, Directs New Committee to Be Formed to Survey Aravallis “Winds, the monsoon, groundwater reserves, water harvesting systems, vegetation, forests, wildlife, and all forms of biodiversity together have shaped the Aravalli over millions of years. These very bio-diversities also sustain it. Is it possible in any way to define or demarcate the Aravali? It is our duty to ensure that the protection and enrichment of any ecological zone and natural resource should be such that its quality increases and is not diminished in any manner,” he said.Moreover, the Aravallis cannot be defined based on economic parameters, he added. At a time when climate change is affecting people, and when air has become so polluted that even breathing has become difficult, it is not possible to think of causing harm to the Aravallis, he said. The need of the hour is to “keep the Aravali safe and to make it green and flourishing, so that we may be protected from natural calamities”, he added.‘Reject all mining in the Aravallis’ He also wrote to the CJI that any kind of mining or adverse activity, including mining and development that harms the Aravali, must be rejected. He reminded the Court that in 1994, a Bench had ordered the closure of 478 mines in Sariska based on a petition Singh filed.This stopped mining in the area, he said.“Today, there is once again a need for that same judicial consciousness and action. It will not be out of place to mention that the destruction of earlier civilisations, such as the Indus Valley and Dola Vera (Mohenjo-Daro) happened due to loss of water,” he wrote in his letter to the CJI.He urged the CJI to discharge his “highest duty” to protect the Aravali ecosystem.“The people of this country and future generations will always remain grateful to you,” he wrote, urging the CJI to take suo motu cognisance of the issue.On December 29, the Supreme Court did that. In its order on Monday, the CJI stayed the November 20 order of the same court, and directed that a new committee be formed to look into all the concerns surrounding the definition of the Aravallis based on widespread protests due to this in many parts of Rajasthan.