Coal mining project claims thousands of trees in India’s Chhattisgarh province

By Shuriah Niazi

NEW DELHI, India (AA) - As the world celebrated World Environment Day on Sunday, residents in the remote Surajpur district of the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh are resisting a mining project that they claim will chop down 200,000 trees spread across 841 hectares (2,078 acres) of forest in the area.

Activists say that the Hasdeo Aranya, one of India's most bio-diverse forests spread over 170,000 hectares in Korba, Surguja, and Surajpur districts of Chhattisgarh is facing a grave threat from mining companies.

There are, however, others who say that the region that is sitting on estimated reserves of 5.18 billion tons (5.71 billion US tons) of coal is crucial to the energy security of the country.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Alok Shukla, the president of Hasdeo Bachao Andolan (Save Hasdeo Movement) said the concerns of the local population have not been addressed when awarding the mining project to a private company.

He said the region also lies on a migration corridor for elephants.

"Mining would destroy the corridor and increase man-elephant conflict in the area. About 25 species of wild animals live in the forests of Hasdeo," he said.

The government has approved the coal mining in the Parsa bloc, a part of Hasdeo Aranya, despite stiff resistance from locals, who have been camping against the decision for over the past two months.

In 2010, the Indian government declared the area a "no-go zone" for mining.

Ramlal Kariyam, a resident, told Anadolu Agency that they would not allow mining in the area, as it is a lifeline for them.

Acting on the petition filed by a lawyer Sudip Shrivastava, India's Supreme Court has sought a reply from the government and the company.

Lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for Sudip, told the Supreme Court that the Wildlife Institute of India and the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education have now completed the necessary studies in this area and said that the opening of any new mine in this area would have serious ecological consequences and that the human-wildlife conflict would reach a stage where it would be difficult to control. The next hearing in the case will take place in mid-June.

While the government's clearance report says that some 95,000 trees would be cut for the mining project, Shukla said more than 200,000 trees would be chopped down.

"This project, spread over 1,200 hectares, will lead to a displacement of around 700 people from Fatehpur, Hariharpur, and Saili villages of the Sarguja and Surajpur districts," he further said.

Speaking to Anadolu Agency, Sushil Anand Shukla, the spokesperson for the Congress party which rules Chhattisgarh, laid the blame on the central government.

"The decision to allow this mine was given by the central government and we cannot do anything about this," said Shukla, adding that the state government's view was that permission for mining should not be given "against the will of the local population."

"We are also of the view that the mining should be carried out in such a way that least destruction should be done to the environment," he added.

While the central government is authorized to award the mining project to firms, it is the state administration that provides environmental clearance for it to go through.

Anadolu Agency also reached out to the central authorities, but they referred to the state government for queries on the matter.