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Jumbo con: Chhattisgarh fudges forest data for coal mining -Nitin Sethi
-The Times of India

The Chhattisgarh government fudged records, concealed facts, changed policy and altered decisions while the Union environment ministry overlooked all such illegalities to open up 1,899 hectares for mining in Hasdeo Arand, one of the best patches of forests in central India.

Initially, the Centre had decided to protect Hasdeo Arand by making it a no-go zone for miners. The Chhattisgarh government too had moved to get the dense forest patch declared an elephant reserve. But once the state government changed its mind and decided to mine coal at Parsa East and Kante Basan in Sarguja district — inside the Hasdeo Arand reserve— it resorted to "unfair" means.

The blocks were allocated to Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited. The state PSU inked a joint venture for the project with Adani Enterprises Limited, the latter holding 74% equity. Another Adani group subsidiary, Adani Mining Private Limited, was contracted to mine the block for the joint venture.

Earlier, the state government had decided to declare three elephant reserves in the forest patch — Tamor Pingla, Semar Sot and Lemru — covering 1,048 sq km. The principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife) recommended that having these three reserves as islands would not help protect the elephants. The corridors in Hasdeo Arand — patches used by elephants for unrestricted movement — too should be given additional protection.

But, when the state government decided to hand over the forest patch to miners, it fudged facts while applying for forest clearance from the Union environment ministry. The Chhattisgarh government claimed the forest area was not used by elephants and only surrounding areas had been visited by pachyderms twice between 2004 and 2009. It categorically said the forest patch had no particular wildlife species of value.

Records with TOI, however, show that just four days before the application was submitted to the Centre, the region's divisional forest officer on a site visit noted that the area had not just elephants but also other protected species such as bear, wild boar, chital, barking deer, sambhar and leopards.

The state government even had a map of the elephant migratory routes along with spots in the forests where either the herds had destroyed houses, crops or killed people. The map showed elephant movement and depredation at the same spot where the proposed coal block was being planned. The state's forest working plan — a key record of the forest department — also marked the coal block forests as an important elephant habitat and home to several endangered and vulnerable species of plants.

The state government's records provide another proof of the presence of wildlife in the region: the forest department had been regularly paying compensation to villagers for loss of homes, crops and even death caused by wildlife.

Yet, the conservator of forests in charge of the area, while forwarding the application to the Centre, cited that there was no tribal settlement in the coal block's 5km radius.

Simultaneously, the state government decided to do a U-turn and stopped the process of declaring the area an elephant reserve, which would have put paid to any mining activities. The state secretary for forests too declared that no new elephant reserves, national parks or sanctuaries were to be created without the permission of the state Cabinet.

Upon receipt of the application, officials from the Bhopal-based regional office of the ministry inspected the site and found records of wildlife in the region and reported it to the Centre.

Consequently, a sub-committee of the mandatory review panel (Forest Advisory Committee) of the ministry visited the site. It found that the state government had fudged data on the density of forests trying to pass it off as a less healthy patch. The panel recommended that the project be scrapped.

But, then environment minister Jairam Ramesh, overcame his own earlier objections as well as that of his committee and gave a spoken order in favour of the project in 2011. Among other reasons, he said the coal block was located on the fringe of the dense forest patch. Earlier, he had, however, noted that dense forests like this only cover 11.5% of the explored coal bearing areas of the country and alternatives were available.

The project clearance was eventually challenged before the National Green Tribunal by Sudiep Shrivastava, a Chhattisgarh-based activist. When the state government was pushed to a wall for having supplied false records in its application for forest clearance, it took refuge behind a 'technical' error. It claimed that elephants had visited the coal block patches only thrice between 2004 and 2009, but that the supporting evidence showed pachyderms had passed through the area at least 20 times in the five years.

Now, NGT has put the felling of trees — more than 3 lakh by the state government's claim and contested by the appellant — on hold till it takes a decision in the case.