The Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan had also raised environmental and tribal rights concerns with the government last month.Accepting the recommendation of its forest advisory committee, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has granted in-principle forest clearance to divert 1,742.6 hectares of Hasdeo-Arand forest for Kente extension coal block allotted to Rajasthan government and to be mined by the Adani Group.The ministry’s “in-principle forest clearance” (not clearances) comes even as a 2021 biodiversity assessment done by Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and Indian Council of Forestry Research (ICFRE) for Hasdeo-Arand coal fields (HACF) had stated that no mining should be carried out in HACF, except in the already operational Parsa East Kente Basan mine.The biodiversity assessment had also highlighted the landscape’s significance for elephants and had stated that any further threat to elephant’s intact habitats could deflect human-wildlife conflict into newer areas in Chhattisgarh. The coal mining project in Suruguja, Chhattisgarh, will involve felling of 4.48 lakh trees, as per official documents, including 97,837 trees in the first five years of mining. Compensatory afforestation in lieu of the forest diversion has been approved over 130.6 hectares of non-forest land and 4450.326 hectares of degraded forest land. Meanwhile, the state forest department has also been directed to translocate 67,414 trees which are below 60cm in girth.The coal mined from Rajasthan Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited’s (RVUNL) Kente extension coal block (KECB) will feed the Chhabra and Suratgarh coal plants in Rajasthan. The coal block was allotted to RVUNL in October 2015 for captive use at these power plants.The in-principle forest clearance issued on June 9 is subject to specific conditions that the mining shall be done in two-phases; first during a 15-year period and restricted to 1,001.95 hectares of forest land. Phase-II of mining on the remaining 740.65 hectares will be linked to reforestation and biodiversity management in Phase-I, as per the clearance document.“Permission for mining in phases shall be subject to exhaustion of the coal reserve within the phase-I mining area boundary or completion of a period of 15 years, whichever is earlier,” the forest clearance document stated.The Chhattisgarh government has also been directed to ensure that a site-specific wildlife management plan as per the recommendations of the Biodiversity assessment study done by ICFRE and WII and it is to be implemented with funding from RVUNL. The moderately dense to dense Hasdeo-Arand forests, which one earmarked as a no-go zone for mining by the UPA government, have already seen deforestation for two coal blocks – Parsa coal block and Parsa East Kente Basan open cast mines. The Hasdeo-Arand area, home to dense Sal forests, spans Korba, Surguja and Surajpur disricts in northern Chhattisgarh and is estimated to be spread over 1.75 lakh hectares.Story continues below this adThe forest area to be diverted for KECB is rich in biodiversity, home to nine Schedule – I species, including leopards, sloth bears and elephants. It is also a catchment for Hasdeo River and Bango Dam and it is situated within 10-km distance from Lemru elephant reserve.The Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan had also raised environmental and tribal rights concerns with the government last month.An award-winning journalist with 14 years of experience, Nikhil Ghanekar is an Assistant Editor with the National Bureau [Government] of The Indian Express in New Delhi. He primarily covers environmental policy matters which involve tracking key decisions and inner workings of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. He also covers the functioning of the National Green Tribunal and writes on the impact of environmental policies on wildlife conservation, forestry issues and climate change. Nikhil joined The Indian Express in 2024. Originally from Mumbai, he has worked in publications such as Tehelka, Hindustan Times, DNA Newspaper, News18 and Indiaspend. In the past 14 years, he has written on a range of subjects such as sports, current affairs, civic issues, city centric environment news, central government policies and politics. ... Read More