More than three hundred trees were ruthlessly uprooted in the eco-sensitive Hasdeo Arand forest region without permission on the dark night of April 26, 2022. This is the same area where mining of new open cast Parsa Coal Mines was proposed. Moreover, when the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) questioned how such a huge number of trees were cut without permission, the Chhattisgarh government said it had no idea.
Surprisingly, despite the heavy deployment of police at the spot, a large number of trees were mercilessly cut one by one, and the strange thing was that the activity remained unnoticed in state government records.
A letter written by Assistant IGF (NTCA) Hemant Singh to the Chief Wildlife Warden, Government of Chhattisgarh dated April 29, 2022, questioned that activity and coal mining operations related to Parsa Coal Mines were carried out without mandatory prior approval of NBWL and the NTCA. He asked the concerned authority to take necessary action and to send a detailed factual report at the earliest.
Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan convenor Alok Shukla who complained to NTCA about the incident on April 27, 2022, alleged that on the intervening night of April 26, Adani men guarded by police came to the site and started felling the trees mercilessly. Tribal villagers who continuously staged protests against it and extension of mining operations and the opening of new coal mines rushed to the spot then only the Adani wood cutters left the spot, Shukla alleged.
We are continuously staging protests against the destruction of Hasdeo Forest which is also known as the lungs of India and will fight till the end, Shukla added. It has been estimated that more than 4 lakh trees will be cut to excavate coal from the protected forest.
Notably, Adani company was assigned as a mine development operator (MDO) to excavate coal for Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam (RVUNL). Recently, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot also visited Chhattisgarh to exert more pressure on the Baghel government to speed up the process of mining in the Hasdeo region which was strongly opposed by the local activists.
However, responding to the NTCA letter, the Chief Forest Conservator of Chhattisgarh Forest Department mentioned that Parsa is an opencast coal mining area and out of 841.538 hectares mining was permitted for 2022-23 in 43.18 hectares only. Counting of trees in the area is in progress but for cutting the trees no order issued by the forest department.
Here, million dollar question was raised by the environmental activists, indigenous people if the forest department not permitted, then under whose permission trees were cut under police protection. The question is yet to be answered?
Moreover, the state forest department also mentioned that based on the recommendation of the ICFR report, permission was granted for mining. The department also denied the presence of tigers in the Korba forest division. The letter said the nearest tiger corridor was 78 kilometres away meanwhile Lemru elephant reserve is situated at a distance of 2.2 km. Therefore, permission from NTCA to grant mining is not required.
