The Surguja district unit of Chhattisgarh Congress has joined the locals against the Congress-led Chhattisgarh government over the cutting of trees in Hasdeo Aranya forest for mining projects. Adani Enterprises Ltd is set to mine an extension of Parsa East Kente Basan (PEKB) coal block and an adjacent coal block in Parsa for the Rajasthan government.
On Tuesday, the state forest department started the process of clearing land in the forest for the mining project. The tribal people started a massive protest against the project, after which the forest department workers had to stop the work. By that time, 100 trees had already been cut.
The tribal people of Hasdeo Aranya have been protesting against the project for months. Around 300 people marched to Raipur from their villages in October 2021 to mark their protest over the project.
District Congress Unit joined Tribal protests
On June 1, members of the district Congress unit in Sarguja met the tribal people and joined their protests. Balkrishna Pathak, who is a local Congress leader and chairperson of the Chhattisgarh Aushadhiya Padap Board, promised the protesting tribal people that he would not let the forest get destroyed. He said, “Rahul Gandhi’s words are like a Lakshman Rekha for us. We shall not let any tree get cut from the forest against the wishes of the tribals.”
Earlier, Rahul Gandhi had extended support for the protests in Hasdeo and had claimed that he was working on a solution ‘within the party. Notably, the Zila Panchayat of district Sarguja has also extended support to the protesters. They have written to the collector and other officials against cutting trees.
Tribal members have claimed there were irregularities in the project, but it was cleared to help Adani. Umeshwar Singh Armo, a member of the Hasdeo Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, said, “We have been complaining that the gram sabha report that they’ve been showing is fake. There are other irregularities too that the government has been covering up in a hurry to facilitate Adani.” Hasdeo Bachao Sangharsh Samiti is an organization comprising tribal residents that were formed to save the forests.
Chhattisgarh allowed mining in March 2021
Notably, the Congress government in Chhattisgarh was against the mining project. In December 2021, it was reported that the Congress-led Rajasthan Government had approached the BJP-led Central government against the Congress-led Chhattisgarh government and requested to intervene in the matter. Reportedly, Rajasthan has blamed Chhattisgarh for stalling the projects at two coal blocks that were allocated to the former.
As both states were unable to find a solution to the problem, Subodh Agarwal, additional chief secretary, Rajasthan, wrote to power and coal secretaries Alok Kumar and Anil Jain. In his letters to the secretaries, he emphasized the need for intervention of the Central Govt to pursue the Chhattisgarh government to take immediate action so that the production from the mines could start. In 2020, Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot wrote to Chhatisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel and requested him to speed up the clearance process for the mines.
Congress leader and Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot met Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel; the project was moved forward. The coal blocks were allotted to Rajasthan in 2015, but the project was stuck for one or the other reason.
The Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) had granted permission to Adani Enterprises to start mining for the second phase of the PEKB coal block. In March Chhattisgarh govt approved the diversion of forest land for non-forest activities. Reportedly, this project will cover 1,136 hectares of forest land.
