In light of the protest against clearance given to coal mines in the biodiversity-rich Hasdeo Arand region, the Chhattisgarh government has urged the Centre to cancel the approval for diversion of forest land for Parsa opencast coal mine in the area, an official said on Tuesday.
In a letter to the director general of forests, Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change on Monday, the state forest department sought to cancel the approval of non-forestry use of 841.548 hectare of forest land for Parsa coal mine allotted to Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited (RRVUNL), the official said.
The letter stated that the widespread public protest in Hasdeo Arand Coalfield has resulted in a law and order situation.
Keeping in view the protest, law and order and public interest, please take appropriate action to cancel the diversion (of forest land) approval issued for the Parsa mine project," KP Rajput, under Secretary of state forest and climate change department, said in the letter.
Notably, the state government had granted permission for non-forestry use of 841.548 hectare of forest land for the Parsa mine (Surguja and Surajpur districts) and 1,136.328 hectares for PEKKB phase-II mine (Surguja), allotted to RRVUNL, after Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot met his Chhattisgarh counterpart Bhupesh Baghel here in March, seeking to clear hurdles in the development of the coal blocks allotted to the former's state.
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Another coal block, Kente extension allotted to RRVUNL in the same Hasdeo Arand region, is pending for public hearing.
Locals under the banner of Hasdeo Arand Bachao Sangharsh Samiti have been protesting against allotment of these mines for the last several months.
Activist Alok Shukla, convener of Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan (CBA), which has been at the forefront of the protest against allotment of these coal mines, said the state government should itself cancel the final clearance it had given for the coal projects.
The state government's move asking the Centre to cancel permission granted to the Parsa coal project can be seen in the direction towards victory of a long struggle. However, the state government should itself withdraw its final approval for the project," he said.
The state government had issued the final order of forest clearance under section 2 of the Forest Conservation Act 1980 for the Parsa project and it is completely under its jurisdiction to withdraw it, Shukla said.
The forest clearance for Parsa coal block was obtained on the basis of a fake proposal of the Gram Sabha, he claimed, adding that the agitation will continue till projects in Hasdeo are not cancelled.
Mining in the ecologically-sensitive Hasdeo Arand region will result in the destruction of 1,70,000 hectare of forest and trigger human-elephant conflict, Shukla claimed.
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