Context: The Haryana state government’s ambitious Aravali Safari Park Project is envisaged to be the world’s largest safari park. However, the project has faced stiff opposition ever since it was first mooted.
Relevance of the Topic:Prelims: Key facts about Aravali Range; Aravali Safari Park Project.
Aravali Safari Park Project
- It is an ambitious project of the Haryana government.
- The project is envisaged to be the world’s largest safari park, which will spread across 3,858 hectare (approximately 10000 Acre) across Gurugram and Nuh districts.
- The proposed will have animal cages, guest houses, hotels, restaurants, auditoriums, an animal hospital, children’s parks, botanical gardens, aquariums, cable cars, a tunnel walk with exhibits, an open-air theatre and eateries.
Concerns with the Project
- Increased tourism in ecologically sensitive area:
- Experts argue that the project aims at increasing tourist footfall and not conserving the Aravalli mountain range. The increased footfall, vehicular traffic and construction will disturb aquifers under the Aravali hills which are critical reserves for the water-starved districts of Gurugram and Nuh.
- Legal Protection:
- The location of the project falls under the category of “forest”, which is protected under the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. Cutting of trees, clearing of land, construction and real estate development is prohibited on this land.
- Poor status of Forest in Haryana:
- As per the experts, the state has a very low forest cover of 3.6%, and therefore, the State needs rewilding of natural forests and not destructive safari projects.
- Idea of an Artificial park:
- Experts questioned the necessity of an artificial park in the lap of nature. According to them, in a natural wildlife habitat like the Aravallis, zoo safari with cages and enclosures does not make sense.
Aravali Range
- It is a mountain range in western India. It is said to be one of the oldest mountain ranges in the world, having its origin in the Proterozoic era.
- It runs approximately 670 km from north-east to south-west direction.
- It starts near Delhi, passes through southern Haryana, Rajasthan, and ends in Gujarat.
- The system is divided into two sections: The Sambhar-Sirohi ranges and the Sambhar-Khetri ranges.
- The range gives rise to several rivers, including the Banas & Sahibi (Tributaries of Yamuna), Luni (flows into the Rann of Kutch), Sakhi, and Sabarmati.
- It is ecologically significant as it combats desertification by checking the spread of the Thar Desert towards eastern Rajasthan.
- It performs the role of an aquifer with its highly fractured and weathered quality rocks allowing water to percolate and recharge the groundwater.
- The Aravalli Range is rich in natural resources including minerals such as rock phosphate, lead-zinc-silver, talc, pyrophyllite, asbestos, etc.
- Guru Shikhar on Mount Abu is the highest peak of the Aravali range.