According to a statement released by the Chhattisgarh forest department on Friday, 32 hectares of the 74.130 hectares of projected forest area are now being cleared for cutting down trees.
The second phase of the Parsa East Kente Basan (PEKB) mining project began deforestation in Chhattisgarh’s Pendramar forest on Friday, despite protests from locals and tribal people, according to activists. Approximately 250,000 trees are expected to be felled over 1,136 hectares of the Hasdeo Aranya forest region.
After the first phase of mining, that was completed in March 2022, the central government gave Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited (RVUNL) the PEKB coal blocks for a second phase of mining.
The first phase of mining was on 762 hectares of land allotted to RVUNL in 2007.
In response to objections from the villagers and tribal people, the Chhattisgarh government, which was then run by the Congress party, revoked its approval of the decision in 2023.
Additionally, the state told the Supreme Court in an affidavit that no new mining reserve sites in Hasdeo Aranya need to be set aside or utilised for mining. It further stated that the 350 million-ton coal reserve at the active Parsa East and Kente Basan (PEKB) mine is sufficient to supply all of the coal needed for the 4,340 MW of linked power plants for about 20 years.
“There is still a 350 million-ton coal resource at the PEKB mine that needs to be extracted. This resource is enough to cover the 4340 MW of coal required by the connected power plants for over 20 years. As a result, no new mining reserve areas need to be allocated or used for mining”, the affidavit from the Chhattisgarh government had then claimed.
Alok Shukla, the organiser of the Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan, which has been spearheading the demonstration in Hasdeo for the past ten years, said on Friday that the chief minister clarified a few days prior to a statement made by the chief minister of Rajasthan, who thanked the previous government for permitting deforestation through new orders while taking Rajasthan’s electricity needs into consideration.
“We all have seen how Gramsabha’s land acquisition of Ghatbarra village was conducted in the presence of a heavy police force, which was not in accordance with the due procedure under PESA (The Provisions of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) and RFCTLARR (Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement) Act 2013,” he said, asserting that the deforestation is illegal and violates the rights of tribal communities enshrined in the fifth schedule of our Constitution. It violated the principles of free, informed, prior consent.”
Shukla said that the second phase of the mining was approved by the forest and environmental authorities in spite of strong opposition from the locals. In March 2022, the state administration led by the previous Congress authorised the final forest clearing in accordance with Action 2 of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980. “Approximately 250,000 trees will be cut down across 1,136 hectares of forest area during phase two. of which, throughout the course of the last two significant deforestation campaigns, about 134 hectares of forest land had already been cleared, with the help of a significant police force presence in the area”, Shukla added.
According to a statement released by the Chhattisgarh forest department on Friday, 32 hectares of the 74.130 hectares of projected forest area are now being cleared for tree felling.
“Due to the sensitivity of the area, the district police force, district administration, and forest officials are working together to form a combined team to remove trees in a peaceful manner. However, they are being convinced not to impede the felling process, some residents of the nearby villages are interfering with the tree-trimming operations”, the department’s statement added.
According to the statement, on August 22, 2024, the Chief Conservator of Forests, Sarguja Forest Division, and the Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Production), Chhattisgarh, gave the Rajasthan government permission to fell 10,944 trees that were standing on 74.130 hectares of forest land in the tenth year of the project.
In this regard, the Forest Range Officer, in Udaipur (Production), has been authorised to cut and transport 10,944 trees across 74.130 hectares of forest land in this regard, it continued.
While the Union government allocates the blocks, the clearance of forest land for mining requires the final go-ahead from the state.
The Hasdeo Arand forest, which covers 170,000 hectares, is one of the largest contiguous areas of dense forest in central India, according to a study report submitted to the Chhattisgarh government in October 2021 by the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education and the Wildlife Institute of India.
The forest is essential for the continuous flow of the Mahanadi River since it is the catchment area of the greatest tributary, the Hasdeo River. Additionally, the Hasdeo Bango reservoir, which is essential for irrigating 300,000 hectares of double-cropped land in Chhattisgarh, receives its water from it.
There are over 70,000 million metric tonnes of coal in Chhattisgarh, of which Hasdeo Aranya makes up about 8%. Hasdeo Arand, which covers 170,000 hectares and has 23 coal blocks, is one of the biggest continuous domains of dense forest in central India.
