A view of the Aravallis Range. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
People from different walks of life, including women and children, from across the National Capital Region gathered near Suncity Society Sector 54 in Gurugram on Sunday (January 4, 2026) as part of an awareness campaign on the Aravalli issue, demanding that the entire mountain range, spread across four States, be declared as UNESCO Protected Biosphere Reserve.
Holding the meeting under the banner of “Aravalli Bachao Citizens Movement”, a registered trust working to spread awareness on the Aravallis, the participants enacted the controversy over the definition and protection of the Aravalis involving a wide range of people and institutions with a few of the volunteers acting as government and courts giving their reasoning and the other, as citizens, giving the rebuttals.
A group of children from marginalised background also did a poetry recitation.
“We citizens are aware that these developments emanating from Supreme Court judgements and Ministry notifications will surely have severe environmental ramifications, so now we ask for comprehensive restoration of all 76,000 sq km of Aravalis, instead of definitions and sustainable mining plan,” said Shivani Yaduvanshi, development communications practitioner and a volunteer with the trust.
Dr. Kumpal, an educator, expressed her dismay through her poem on Aravallis, and added: “I want to express respect for those who are participating in the Aravali Bachao campaign and they are the torch-bearers of hope for us.”
Dr Parul Sharma, another participant, explained to the gathering: “we are surely headed towards a health crisis with AQIs in NCR going to 900. How are we seeing a future for citizens, who are suffering the consequences of living in high levels of pollution.”
“Recognising the power of community-based action is so important!” contributed Akshay Khurana, who works on Zero-waste activities. “The Aravalis must be declared as a UNESCO Protected Biosphere Reserve.”
One of the founding members of the trust, Anuradha P. Dhawan, said the interaction of the youngsters had increased on the social media platform of the “Aravalli Bachao Citizens’ Movement’’ since the controversy over the mountain range had erupted in the wake of the Supreme Court order. This, she said, showed that the present generation was concerned about the environment and was a “welcome sign”.
Ms. Dhawan said the meeting today was a kind of an explainer with so much confusion over the issue. We tried to dispel the confusion by explaining it in a conversation tone with the volunteers enacting the entire developments over the past few weeks, she said.
The participants also demanded that all construction and mining activities and coal-fired power plants not adhering to international clean emissions standards be shut till the AQI in the NCR came down to 50.
The gathering also sought ban on the Waste-to-Energy plants, making all urban public transport facilities free to reduce the use of private vehicles, and several fold increase in tax on private transport to offset the budget needed for huge enhancement of public transport facilities across India’s urban sector.
Published – January 05, 2026 04:14 am IST
