Chhattisgarh villages object to public hearing on mines
Chhattisgarh villages object to public hearing on mines
Jayashree Nandi, Hindustan Times
July 16, 2024
Gram panchayats in Chhattisgarh raise objections to public hearing for 9
MTPA coal mine due to outdated data and environmental concerns.
Gram panchayats of six villages in Chhattisgarh have raised objections to a
public hearing notice issued to discuss the environmental clearance for the
Kente Extension Opencast Coal Mine of 9 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) in
a lease area of 1,760 hectares (ha).
According to the pre-feasibility report for environmental clearance
published on the Union environment ministry’s Parivesh website, 1,742 ha or
99% of the area is under forest cover. The Chhattisgarh Environment
Conservation Board has issued a notice to hold a public hearing for the
project on August 2 at Parsa in Surguja district to discuss its clearance.
Main objections raised by the gram panchayats of Basen, Pendarkhi, Chakeri,
Bakoi, Salhi, Ghatbarra villages in a letter to the Chhattisgarh
Environment Conservation Board, seen by HT, are that the draft environment
impact assessment (EIA) report of the project was published in March 2021
while data collected was from a study period during October to December
2019. The data is over three years old and may not reflect the current
circumstances on ground, they have said.
Further, the gram panchayats have referred to an office memorandum of the
Union environment ministry, dated June 8, 2022, which said baseline data
and the public consultation should not be older than three years at the
time of submission of the proposal for grant of Environmental Clearance
(EC), as per the prescribed terms of reference (ToR).
The ToR, one of the first steps in the process of environmental clearance,
for the Kente Extension mine was granted by the Centre on January 8, 2020.
Further, the sarpanches (gram panchayat heads) have also pointed out that
Lemru Elephant Reserve, which was notified in 2021, and the mine area falls
within 10km radius of the reserve. This information, they argued, has not
been updated in the EIA report. Sarpanches have flagged that the area is
extremely vulnerable to human-elephant conflict.
“We have objected to the public hearing for multiple reasons. The most
important is that this is a very old and dense forest. It’s not a small
area with trees. These trees are thousands of years old. They give us food,
water and medicine. We do not want them to be cleared,” Shripal Porte,
Basen sarpanch, said.
The gram panchayats have also referred to a July 27, 2022 resolution passed
by the Chhattisgarh assembly urging the Centre to cancel allocation of all
coal blocks in Hasdeo Arand forests in view of the region’s rich
biodiversity.
In its notice, the Chhattisgarh environment board pointed out that public
hearing notices were issued on May 29, 2021, July 14, 2021 and June 13,
2022 as well, but public hearing could not be conducted because of certain
administrative issues.
“Hasdeo Arand is a very dense forest, with important biodiversity. It
serves as a catchment for the Bango dam which is critical for irrigation in
this region. Further, there was a resolution by the Chhattisgarh assembly
to cancel all coal blocks in Hasdeo Arand region precisely for this
reason,” said Alok Shukla of Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan and recipient of
this year’s Goldman Environmental Prize. “Wildlife experts have already
flagged that human-elephant conflict will increase and disrupt life here if
new coal blocks are considered. Moreover, gram sabha objections are being
overlooked. Why? People have been protesting for 900 days now.”
Arun Prasad, member secretary, Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board,
said the objective of the public hearing is to record the views of local
people who will be impacted by the project. “We will record all the views
and send it to MoEFCC. The very objective of a public hearing is to record
all views based on which a decision can be taken. Public hearing along with
EIA report help in the process.”
HT sought a response from the Union environment ministry on the gram
panchayats’ objection, but did not receive one immediately.
The mine is allotted to Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited while
the Adani Enterprises is the Mine Developer and Operator (MDO). HT has
reached out Adani Enterprises for a response, but could not get one till
the time of going to the press.