New Delhi: Amid ongoing protests against clearance to coal mines in the biodiversity-rich Hasdeo Arand region of Chhattisgarh, the state forest department on Monday started cutting trees for the second phase of mining in Parsa East Kente Basan (PEKB) coal mine there.
However, the exercise was halted after a large number of villagers staged a protest against the move. While villagers claimed around 250 trees were chopped, officials said 50-60 trees were axed before the exercise was stopped.
In March this year, the state government had granted final approval for non-forestry use of forest land for PEKB phase-II coal mining in Surguja district.
The forest department started felling trees in Pendramar forest adjoining Ghatbarra village on Monday morning during which several villagers reached there opposing the exercise, Surguja Additional Superintendent of Police Vivek Shukla said.
In view of the protest and to avoid law and order situation, the tree felling was stopped and villagers were pacified, he added.
Ghatbarra villages sarpanch Jainandan Porte claimed the permission for phase-II of the PEKB mine was given based on fake gram sabha consent documents.
“The gram sabha for the PEKB stage II was held in 2019, official information of which was not given to Ghatbarra villagers at that time. In fact, the attendance register of that gram sabha bears the signatures of three residents of the village, who had died before 2019. That gram sabha was totally fake but, unfortunately, based on it clearance was given for mining. We have demanded a probe into it,” he alleged.
Convener of Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan (CBA) Alok Shukla said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi recently said in Cambridge that he has a problem with the approval given to mining in Hasdeo Arand in his party-ruled state, but despite that surprisingly the cutting of trees started.
“Last month, the forest department started the same exercise for Parsa coal mine project, and that too was thwarted by villagers. The state government is ignoring the welfare of tribals,” Shukla, whose CBA has been fighting for tribal rights and environment conservation, said.
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Mining in the ecologically sensitive Hasdeo Arand region would result in destruction of 1,70,000 hectares of forests and trigger human-elephant conflicts, he claimed.
Both Parsa and PEKB coal blocks are part of the Hasdeo Arand region in Surguja division and were allotted to Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited (RRVUNL).
According to officials, the first phase of mining in 762 hectare of land in PEKB block, which was allotted RVUNL in 2007, was started in 2013 and has been completed. Parsa block was allocated in 2015.
Concerns of biodiversity destruction in the region have been expressed for some time now. As the Indian Express has reported, two studies by the ICFRE and Wildlife Institute of India “have underlined the importance of biodiversity in the region that mining will undoubtedly affect. They also address the issue of human-elephant conflicts, noting that while Chhattisgarh has less elephants compared to other states, it accounts for a significant percentage of conflict due to habitat loss or clearing of forests.”
Villagers have also said that the project will affect their access to land and so their livelihoods, and there have been longstanding protests over the issue. In October 2021, a 300-km-long march was undertaken by around 350 people from tribal communities to Raipur, to protest “illegal” land acquisition.
(With PTI inputs)