SAVE HASDEO FOREST

The Hasdeo Arand Forest

Hasdeo Arand, a vast forest in Chhattisgarh's north, is renowned for both its biodiversity and its coal seams. The Korba, Sujapur, and Sarguja districts, which have sizable tribal populations, include the forest. It is traversed by the Hasdeo river, a tributary of the Mahanadi.

Hasdeo Arand is home to the "largest un-fragmented forests in Central India consisting of pristine Sal (Shorea robusta) and teak forests," according to a report on the area published in 2021 by the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education (ICFRE), an independent organisation under the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change.

Mining Activity

There are 23 coal blocks in the Hasdeo Arand Coal Field (HACF), which spans about 1,880 sq km. Around 2010, when the Chhattisgarh government suggested forest clearance for diverting 1,898.328 hectares of forest land for Parsa East and Kente Basan (PEKB) coal deposits, the demand for mining increased. Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited received these (RRVUNL). Adani Enterprises, the project's official Mine Developer and Operator, manages the PEKB coal block.

However, numerous court orders, forest assessment reports, and forest inhabitants' protests came after this initial action.

The Environment Ministry's Forest Advisory Committee advised against using the forest land for mining in June 2011. Jairam Ramesh, the then-Congress party environment minister, overturned this choice by stating that coal mining would take place elsewhere, far from the dense forest.

The MoEF approved forest clearance in 2012 for mining at PEKB coal mines phase I, which had a reserve of 137 million tonnes and a mining limit of 762 hectares.

The second phase of the PEKB coal block covers 1,136 hectares, and the Chhattisgarh government announced in March that Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam had been granted licence to mine coal there.

The Environmental Impact

Two studies conducted by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and ICFRE as of May 2022 have been published. Both have emphasised the value of biodiversity in the area, which mining will surely have an impact on. They also discuss the problem of conflicts between people and elephants, noting that despite Chhattisgarh having fewer elephants than other states, it is responsible for a sizable portion of confrontations because of habitat loss or forest cutting. These studies have indicated that further deforestation could result in elephant migrations spreading into urban areas.

If mining were permitted, the ICFRE also emphasised the destruction of the local natural environment and the "severe impact on the community in form of loss of livelihood, identity, and culture" with relation to the local tribal population. However, it supported the idea of mining with "tight environmental safeguards" in four blocks: Tara, Parsa, PEKB, and Kente Extension. The PEKB block was described as a "habitat for uncommon, endangered, and threatened flora and animals" in the document.

The battle over mining in Chhattisgarh’s Hasdeo forest

Rahul Gandhi, the head of the Congress, recently voiced his opposition to the Chhattisgarh government's decision to permit coal mining in the Hasdeo forest. The second phase of the Parsa East-Kete Basan (PEKB) coal block, covering 1,136 hectares, received approval for coal mining from the state administration in March.

During a discussion with students on the topic on Tuesday at the University of Cambridge, Rahul responded: "I have a problem with the decision myself."

"I know the protest is going on and in some ways the protest is justifiable," he stated in reference to the ongoing demonstrations in Chhattisgarh, which frequently go by the name "Save Hasdeo."

The protests

Over the past ten years, a number of organisations and people have waged an active campaign against mining in the area. 350 individuals from tribal communities marched 300 kilometres to Raipur in October 2021, alleging "illegal" land acquisition.

After meeting with officials in Chhattisgarh on May 24, the CMD of RRVUNL told ANI: "Rajasthan will have a major power crisis if it is unable to obtain coal from Chhattisgarh."

In opposition to the trees cut down for mining, he said, more than 8 lakh trees had been planted in Chhattisgarh, and that campaigners were "misguiding" locals. Sharma said that locals have benefited from jobs, education, and the upcoming opening of a "100-bed hospital" in Sarguja.

On May 25, "Friends of Hasdeo Arand" held a press conference in Delhi where they claimed that bogus gramme sabhas had been set up to show "permission" from the tribal people for mining activities. They said that Hasdeo Arand's problem was more widespread and related to difficulties with the rights of marginalised populations to water, forests, and land known as jal, jungle and zameen.