New Delhi: On July 3, the Union environment ministry terminated from duty four close aides to environment minister Bhupender Yadav. The unusual move has raised eyebrows, with Congress leader and former environment minister Jairam Ramesh saying on Thursday (July 9) that these dismissals are a “gigantic scandal” and should be seen in the light of recent happenings such as the ministry trying to redraw the boundaries of Sariska Tiger Reserve in Rajasthan to enable mining, and the controversy that followed a few months later regarding a change in the definition of the Aravallis.Who are the terminated staff?On July 3, the ministry relieved Amar Singh, who served as the private secretary to the Union environment minister, of his duties. He was repatriated to his parent cadre (the Department of Revenue) “on administrative ground”. Amar Singh is a 2010-batch Indian Revenue Service officer who took charge in June 2024. An official document on June 25, 2024, accessed by The Wire suggests that Amar Singh was appointed to the post only till July 7 this year or “until further orders”.In another office order on July 3, the ministry “prematurely repatriated” Shailesh Kumar Singh, Central Secretariat Service (CSS), additional private secretary to the minister, to his parent Cadre – the Department of Personnel and Training. He was relieved of his duties “with immediate effect” and with the provision of “extended cooling off”. Shailesh Kumar Singh had been working with the Minister since November 2024.The environment ministry also terminated the services of Ayush Saran, Additional Private Secretary to the Minister, and Siddharth Yadav, who served as the Minister’s Assistant Private Secretary, “with immediate effect”. Both of them had been working with the Minister since June 2024.‘Unprecedented’The office orders announcing the termination of services of all four officials came in four separate orders on the same day.The Hindu quoted an unnamed senior official of the environment ministry as saying that the repatriation of three officials (as of July 3, only three officials were known to have been removed; news of the sacking of the fourth official came later) was “unprecedented”.Senior Congress leader and former union environment minister Jairam Ramesh called it “shocking” when the news surfaced on July 7. “One of the aides is widely considered the closest of close confidants of the Minister concerned,” said Ramesh in a social media post on July 8. He alleged that there had been a “collapse of governance” in the ministry which had “done little to protect the environment and forests and to deal with the implications of climate change” in recent years. “Meanwhile, ecological destruction across the country continues unabated – including in Great Nicobar, the dense forest areas of central and east India, the Aravalli Range, and other biodiversity-rich ecosystems. Air pollution continues to extract a heavy toll on public health and standards that need to be updated and enforced are simply not. The list is endless. But does the Modi regime even care? The Paryavaran Mantralay has become a Pravachan Mantralay,” he wrote.A ‘gigantic scandal’On July 9, Ramesh said in another social media post on X that from June 2025, the Union environment ministry and government of Rajasthan had made “determined efforts” to redraw the critical tiger habitat boundary near Alwar at Sariska Tiger Reserve. This, he said, will enable over 50 mining companies which have been closed down to resume operations.This is something that environmentalists had pointed out last June, after the standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL, a body under the ministry which reviews and issues permits for development projects in wildlife habitats including protected areas, their eco-sensitive zones and tiger corridors) on June 26 last year approved the Rajasthan government’s proposal to increase the Critical Tiger Habitat of the Sariska Tiger Reserve from 881 square kilometres to 924 sq km, and reduce buffer zone area from 245 sq km to 203 sq km.Activists and citizens protested on the grounds that the latter would result in exclusion of around 23 sites from the existing Critical Tiger Habitat in Alwar district, potentially paving the way to restart operations at around 50 marble and dolomite mines. These mines had been operating before being halted by a Supreme Court order in 2024.Raising this and other concerns, citizens and environmental organisations moved a petition in the Supreme Court and on August 5, 2025, the apex court came down heavily on both the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the standing committee of the NBWL. Remarking that it looked like hasty decisions had been made by the panels to aid the mining lobby, the court sent the proposal back to the NTCA and NBWL, asking them to reconsider their permissions.“Then on Sept 20 2025, the Forest Survey of India in a communication to the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change had recommended strongly against the redefinition of the Aravalli Hills that would open up the range to mining and real estate development. The Supreme Court-mandated Central Empowered Committee and the Supreme Court’s Amicus Curiae had also supported the FSI. Yet the Ministry advocated the redefinition,” Ramesh said in his social media post on July 9. “These bear recall now in light of the sudden sacking of four close aides of the Union Minister of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. This shows a complete collapse of due diligence and accountability at the very top. Undoubtedly there has been a gigantic scandal that has led to these dismissals,” he alleged.Incidentally, the termination of the services of the officials also occurred just four days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi on July 7 signed 14 agreements with Indonesia during his visit to the country. As per a government release, India will partner with Indonesia on the integrated development of the Sabang Port. The partnership will include developing cruise and marine-tourism facilities, maritime industries (ship-repair and shipbuilding), and shore-based services supporting offshore energy activities in the Andaman Sea. These, according to the government release “would foster institutional, physical, digital and flow of people and commodities between Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India and Provinces in Sumatra Island, that contribute to generating investment, employment, transfer of technology and shared regional prosperity”.Despite warnings from experts and court cases filed by conservationists, the union government has been pushing forward a slew of infrastructure projects on Great Nicobar island, the southernmost island in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago. The projects, which include an international transshipment container terminal on the island, will be less than 200 kilometers (as the crow flies) from Sabang port.