Here’s how the vanishing Aravalli hills in Rajasthan are affecting air quality in Delhi

• The Supreme Court in a verdict blamed disappearance of Aravalli Hills as one of reasons for rising pollution in Delhi.
  
• 31 out of 128 Aravalli hills in Rajasthan have disappeared due to illegal mining activities.
• The negligence of the Rajasthan government has led to severe environmental consequences.

The Supreme Court have discovered one more reason for deteriorating air quality in New Delhi. The unrestrained mining activities by real estate firms have caused much damage to Aravalli Hills in Rajasthan. In fact, 31 out of 128 hills in the range have already disappeared and the number is only increasing.

Rajasthan government has been held responsible for not keeping a check on illegal mining activities being performed in 115.34 hectare area of the range. The court has instructed the state to take immediate steps to restrict these activities within 48 hours. The state government was getting a royalty of ₹5,000 crore against illegal mining activities conducted on the hilly area.

Aravalli Hills have been playing a crucial role in balancing the climate of Indus-Ganga plain in Northern India. Many climatic factors like rainfall, and soil conservation are dependent on the old mountain range.

Inching sand dunes towards National Capital Region

Sand dunes are approaching National capital region through the Harchandpur village, Sohna which is merely 20 km from Gurgaon and 60 km, revealed a study by Wildlife Institute of India (WII) in 2017. The Aravallis in Rajasthan and Haryana used keep the velocity of wind in check, but because of the mining activity the wind pattern is getting directed towards the plateau and that contains a lot of sand and dust.

Limited seasonal rain

Earlier, the hills accelerate seasonal rainfall in the nearby areas. The degradation in hills along with changing land patterns and weather exploitation has decreased the amount of seasonal rainfall to minimal. As a consequence, the mining activities are transforming land in barren desserts.

Decline in number of rainy days

To much surprise, the damage is not only accelerating the pollution level but it is also decreasing the number of rainy days from 60 to 80 days to 18-30 days which is constantly affecting monsoon patterns in North India.