Large-scale felling of trees has drawn protests from the villagers living in the ammonia block of the Raigarh district stating that thousands of green trees have already been felled by Jindal’s proposed coal mining project and the process has not stopped.
The local inhabitants claim that the area of forest has been an issue in Nagarmuda village since the allotment of coal block. The villagers have been complaining about the continuous logging and the logging which is also adversely affecting the environment has now started to gather opposition from the ground.
Reeling from the furor, Forest Department Sub-Divisional Officer Ashutosh Mandwa acknowledged that Jindal had applied for moving the trees to fill-up the new mining lease.
The department approved logging of 13,537 lobby trees needed for the project, he said. In addition, the approved area comprises sal trees and various other varieties of small and large trees, the official said.
But local activists and campaigners for RTI have said that thousands (and more) of trees have already been felled and machinery removed trees beyond the approved limit.
The protesters say that the biggest aim of the deforestation is going to affect the ecology, biodiversity and livelihoods in the region in the long run. Villagers have converged to forbid any more timber being imported at the location and asked for more stringent monitoring of the mining venture.
This dispute between industrial expansion and taking steps to conserve the environment in the coal-producing areas of Chhattisgarh, highlights the issue once again.