Hasdeo Aranya’s Tara coal block withdrawn from commercial mining auction process
Tara coal block is in Hasdeo Aranya forest area (Surajpur district) and has the existence of 15.96 sq km of Very Dense Forest (VDF) area in the coal mine
The Union coal ministry has withdrawn Tara coal block from commercial mining auction process which has a forest cover of 81% in the state’s Hasdeo Aranya following objection by the Chhattisgarh government.
A notice of withdrawal from auction was issued by the Union coal ministry on July 28.
“The Ministry of Coal had launched the 7th round and second attempt of the 6th round of Commercial Coal Mine Auction on March 29, 2023. Tara Coal Mine was offered under the 7th round of commercial coal mine auction. However, the competent authority has decided to withdraw the coal mine from the current auction process,” the notice stated.
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Tara coal block is in Hasdeo Aranya forest area (Surajpur district) and has the existence of 15.96 sq km of Very Dense Forest (VDF) area in the coal mine.
On June 23, the Chhattisgarh government wrote a letter to the central coal ministry to refrain nine coal blocks out of 23 total coal blocks (in Chhattisgarh) from the auction for commercial mining citing environmental reasons, including Tara coal block.
Tara was the only coal block from Chhattisgarh which had received bidders according to the list issued by coal ministry on June 28.
The bidders of Tara coal block were Gujarat Mineral Development Corporation, Jindal Steel and Power Limited and Raigarh Natural Resources Limited.
The state government had also said that the Chhattisgarh forest and climate change department cited the loss to environment as reasons for asking the central government to withdraw the nine coal blocks.
The nine coal blocks were Tara (Surajpur district), Karkoma (Korba), Koilar ( Raigarh), Tendumudi (Raigarh), Jilga Barpali (Korba), Barpali Kalmi Tikra (Korba), Batati Kolga North East (Korba), Batati Kolga East (Korba) and Fetehpur south (Raigarh).
Tara is in Hasdeo Arand forest area and other eight coal blocks are in the catchment area of Mand, river which flows in Mand-Raigarh forest area.
On 26 July 2022, the Chhattisgarh assembly passed a resolution to oppose mining in the entire Hasdeo forest area.
The Union government in March 2023 announced the 7th round of its coal mine auction.
The total number of mines to be auctioned is 101, including Tara block in Chhattisgarh’s Hasdeo Aranya forests which has a forest cover of 81%.
Sudiep Shrivastava, a Chhattisgarh-based advocate who is also main litigant against mining in Hasdeo Aranya No-Go Area said, “The withdrawal was very important for the biodiversity of Hasdeo Aranya, around 10 lakh trees was there in this block which is densely forested. Centre’s policy of auction also says that it avoids mining if blocks have more than 30% forest cover and in Tara it was 81%.”
Activists also lauded the state government’s efforts in the withdrawal of Tara coal block.
“The state government has played an admirable role in ensuring these constitutional provisions and views of local communities are respected, which the central government seems to have agreed to abide by. We whole-heartedly welcome this move and hope that the entire Hasdeo Aranya region gets protected, and all remaining coal blocks including Parsa and Kete Extension also be similarly deallocated as per commitment of Chhattisgarh Vidhan Sabha and the gram sabha resolutions,” said Alok Shuka, convenor of Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan.