Students seek protection for Aravalis, meet Hardeep Puri in Delhi

Students seek removal of certain proposals in Draft NCR Regional Plan-2041 aiming to dilute protection to the Aravalis

Around a hundred children, aged between 10-15 years, from different cities in India’s National Capital Region knocked on the doors of Haryana Bhavan and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in Delhi on Tuesday seeking removal of certain proposals in the Draft NCR Regional Plan-2041 aiming to dilute protection to the Aravalis.

Union Minister for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Puri also shared the pictures of his meeting with the children on his Twitter account saying that he was pleased to have an engaging conversation with budding environmentalists and addressed their concerns about Aravalis.

“We have been very disturbed to hear from our parents and teachers and after reading in the newspapers that a new NCR Draft Regional Plan 2041 has been proposed which is excluding terms such as ‘Aravallis’, ‘Forest Areas’, ‘Natural Conservation Zone’. Our natural ecosystems are our only shield that can protect us from the climate crisis looming on our heads. Why has the NCR Draft Plan 2041 dropped the target, ‘total forest cover proposed to be 10% of the total area of the region’ of the NCR Regional Plan 2021 when we live in one of the most polluted areas in the world? Climate action demands an exponential increase in afforestation efforts by the government,” said Aarjav Jain, a Class VIII student from Pragati Public School in Delhi.

Mudit Sharma from Blue Bells International School, Delhi, said that they met the Resident Commissioner at Haryana Bhawan and the Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs at Nirman Bhavan with the bundle of letters and signed sheets from the students and teachers. “We presented native Aravali saplings of Goya Khair and Dudhi to them in the hope that they work in the interest of our future and enhance protection to the Aravalis and other natural ecosystems. As young citizens of India battling global warming, climate change, severe air pollution, we would like our government to work on a plan to increase the forest cover target of Delhi - NCR to the national average of 20%,” said Mudit.

Over the last few days, more than 12,000 students and 900 teachers from schools in Delhi, Gurugram and Faridabad in Haryana, Baghpat district in Uttar Pradesh and Alwar in Rajasthan have written letters addressed to India’s Prime Minister, Environment Minister, Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs and Chief Ministers of the four NCR states requesting them to strengthen the new NCR plan ecologically so that children's and people’s right to breathe and water security in the already highly polluted and water stressed India’s National Capital Region is not further negatively impacted.