Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot Gehlot said the government’s move to redefine the Aravallis with the ‘100 meter’ criterion cannot be seen in isolation. Photo: Screengrab via X/@ashokgehlot51.
Former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Monday (Dec 22, 2025) launched a scathing attack on the central government, accusing it of hatching a “well-planned conspiracy” to weaken environmental protection and pave the way for mining in the ecologically sensitive Aravalli region.
Mr. Gehlot said the government’s move to redefine the Aravallis with the ‘100 meters’ criterion cannot be seen in isolation. “This is part of a larger plan to capture institutions and hand over the Aravallis to the mining mafia,” he claimed.
He pointed to two major decisions that he said exposed the Centre’s “real agenda” and termed Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav’s claim that only 0.19% of the Aravallis would be opened for mining as “misleading and factually incorrect”.
The first step, Mr. Gehlot said, was the September 5, 2023 notification that brought the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) under the environment ministry and stripped it of its independence. “The CEC, which was created in 2002 under the supervision of the Supreme Court to protect forests, has now turned into a government puppet. Earlier, its members were appointed with the court’s approval. Today, the Center controls the appointments and reduces the CEC to a rubber stamp,” Mr Gehlot said.
The former chief minister of Rajasthan further alleged that in June 2025, the Center and the Rajasthan government tried to change the boundaries of the Critical Tiger site in Sariska to revive more than 50 closed mines. The proposal, Mr. Gehlot said, was approved in a hurry. The State Wildlife Board approved it on June 24 and the National Board for Wildlife on June 26. The Supreme Court stayed the decision and asked, ‘How could something that takes months be done in 48 hours?'” Mr. Gehlot said, calling it the biggest evidence of collusion.
Published – 22 Dec 2025 22:59 IST
