R Krishna Das
In a big leap forward to protect the environment, Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi today announced to exclude five coal mines located in the bio-diversity rich forests in Chhattisgarh from auction.
The five mines, four located in Hasdeo-Arand and one in Mand coalfields, were of the nine coal blocks identified in Chhattisgarh for commercial mining. However, in place of these five coal mines, three other coal reserves in the state will be included for commercial auctioning, Joshi said.
The Hasdeo Arand is one of the largest contiguous stretches of dense forest in central India, covering about 170,000 hectares (420,080 acres) of the state of Chhattisgarh. It is rich in biodiversity, contains many threatened species and is home to elephants, leopards and sloth bears.
It is also home to the Gond, one of India’s Adivasis, the name given to the country’s original indigenous peoples.
The green activists had been opposing mining operation in the area that comes under Schedule 5 areas where Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act 1996 and Forest Rights Act 2006 (Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights Act) are applicable.
All told, 20 tribal village councils (gram sabhas) in the Hasdeo-Arand and Raigarh-Mand coalfield areas have passed formal resolutions under the Forest Rights Act, vetoing the opening of coal blocks in their traditional forestlands.
Following pressure from the environment activists, Chhattisgarh government had urged the Centre to keep the five coal blocks away from the auction. The Coal Minister responded with a positive note. “The ministry has accepted the suggestion of Chhattisgarh government to replace 5 coal mines with other 3 other mines,” he said.
Now, total number of mines put on auction in the state for commercial mining shall be 07 while the overall reserve of the coal of all auctioned mines shall remain almost same.
“We welcome the decision of the coal minister and thank him,” Alok Shukla of Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan, a group working in the Hasdeo area for environment protection, said. But their protest against commercial coal mining would continue, he added.
