Landfill Waste Polluting Waterbodies in Aravalis | 29 Jun 2024

Garbage is being illegally dumped at waterbodies in Aravalis. The Aravali land is protected under Section 4 of the Punjab Land Preservation Act (PLPA) 1900, which makes the forest department’s approval mandatory to carry out any non-forest activities.

Waterbodies in the Aravalis served as a source of water for the local wildlife, and are now being polluted and filled with spillover garbage and leachate from the landfill.
It is crucial for the authorities to prioritise the protection of the Aravali ecosystem and take stringent action against those violating environmental laws.

Special orders under Section 4 of PLPA, 1900 are the restrictive provisions issued by the state government to prevent deforestation of a specified area that could lead to soil erosion.
When the state government is satisfied that deforestation of a forest area forming part of a larger area is likely to lead to erosion of soil, the power under Section 4 can be exercised.
- Therefore, the specific land which a special order under Section 4 of PLPA has been issued will have all the trappings of a forest governed by the Forest Act, 1927.

The Aravallis of Northwestern India, one of the oldest fold mountains of the world, now form residual mountains with an elevation of 300 meter to 900 meter. They stretch for a distance of 800 km. from Himmatnagar in Gujarat to Delhi, spanning Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and Delhi, the 692 kilometre (km).
The mountains are divided into two main ranges – the Sambhar Sirohi Range and the Sambhar Khetri Range in Rajasthan, where their extension is about 560 km.
The hidden limb of the Aravallis that extends from Delhi to Haridwar creates a divide between the drainage of rivers of the Ganga and the Indus