Raipur: The protest over Hasdeo Aranya Forest intensified on Wednesday as the tribal’s held a Hasdeo Bachao Padyatra which commenced from Damakheda in Balodabazar and reached Raipur. The protestors staged an agitation at Raj Bhavan in Raipur. Following which Bastar Councilor Ranchandra Baghel, who was heading the padayatra submitted a memorandum to Gov Anusiya Uikey and CM Baghel demanding closure of the mining project.
The rally gained huge popularity after a local climate activist Vinisha tweeted a post of the padayatra held on Tuesday captioning it as #Save Hasdeo. His tweet read- “Thousands of local tribals of the Hasdeo region are facing coal agenda supporters trying to disrupt peaceful protests. They have set out on a 300 km march to the state capital to end coal mining from their land.” The tweet gained popularity on Wednesday after the famous Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg retweeted the padayatra tweet on her account.
The rally commenced on October 3 after the villagers began protesting all the way till Raipur chanting slogans and carrying the tricolour flag. They reached Raipur late Tuesday night travelling a distance of 270km. Sohan Potai of Sarva Adivasi also joined the padayatra in Raipur.
On Dec 24, 2020, the Centre invoked the Coal Bearing Areas Act, 1975 in order to acquire roughly 700 hectares of land in the tribal occupied Korba district in the state. It should be noted that nearly 503 hectares of this allocated land comprise of ‘protected forest’ are, which the centre acquired under the act. Earlier several village sarpanches and villagers have written to the CM and the Coal Ministry objecting to the project.