Ambikapur: Tree felling for Parsa East and Kete Basan (PEKB) phase-II extension coal mine in the biodiversity-rich Hasdeo Arand region of Chhattisgarh's Surguja district restarted on Friday amidst protest by local villagers.
A large number of police personnel was deployed in the area to maintain law and order.
Activists alleged police detained more than 100 villagers who had been protesting against coal mining in the ecologically sensitive Hasdeo area, a charge denied by the law enforcement agency.
The PEKB mine has been allotted to Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd (RRVUNL), a state PSU.
"On Friday, tree felling exercise was launched in 32 hectares out of the proposed 74.130 hectares of the forest land (for PEKB phase-II mine) in Udaipur development block of Surguja district. So far, 3,694 trees have been chopped. Felling of remaining trees was underway," a statement issued by the state forest department said.
Since the area is sensitive, a joint team of district police, local administration and forest officials has been constituted to carry out tree felling peacefully. Some residents of villages near the mine area were obstructing the exercise, but they were persuaded not to create any hindrance, it said.
The first phase of coal mining in 762 hectares of land in PEKB block allotted to RRVUNL in 2007 was started in 2013 following final approval in 2012 given by the Union Ministry of Forest and Climate Change. Mining there has been completed.
The Union ministry granted permission for using 1,136 hectares of forest land for the PEKKB phase-II mine (Surguja) in 2022, the statement said.
The RRVUNL has been granted permission for cutting 10,944 trees standing in an area of 74.130 hectares of forest land in the 10th year of the project by the Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Production) Chhattisgarh on August 21 this year and by the Chief Conservator of Forests, Surguja Forest Division next day on August 22, it said.
Permission for the felling and transportation of a total of 10,944 trees in an area of 74.130 hectares of forest land was granted to the Forest Range Officer, Udaipur (Production), the statement added.
Local villagers under the banner of Hasdeo Arand Bachao Sangharsh Samiti had been protesting against allotment of the mines for several years.
The forest department in the past tried to launch a tree cutting exercise to pave the way for the start of the PEKB phase II coal mine, but it could not move forward in the face of strong opposition from local residents.
Alok Shukla, Convener of the Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan (CBA), which has been at the forefront of protests against allotment of coal mines, on Friday said it was very unfortunate that once again the state government has started cutting of trees for PEKB phase two.
"Earlier also attempts were made to chop trees. Local gram sabhas (village councils) have not given their consent for coal mining in the area. The Chhattisgarh assembly unanimously passed a resolution in 2022 (during previous Congress rule) that mining activities will not be carried out in the Hasdeo area. Instead of honouring that resolution, the newly-elected BJP government (which took office in December 2023) launched cutting of trees by deploying a heavy security force," Shukla said.
He claimed the protesting villagers were detained by police.
"We strongly condemn the action and want an immediate end to the deforestation exercise," Shukla said.
The state government has been snatching the rights of tribal communities to benefit corporates, he alleged.
Surguja Superintendent of Police Yogesh Patel denied claims of detaining villagers and said as a precautionary measure they were shifted to other places by police as the tree felling exercise was underway.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)