In an undertaking submitted to the National Green Tribunal, the State Government on Monday said that it would not fell trees in Mahan forests till October. This comes as a temporary respite for members of Mahan Sangharsh Samiti (MSS) who had filed a petition last week with the NGT challenging the forest clearance granted to Mahan coal block earlier in March this year.
Hardayal Singh Gond of MSS and a petitioner in the case said, "The State Government's undertaking has given us temporary respite till October. But we are determined to save our forests and will continue to oppose any mining-related activities in our forest."
Earlier in May this year, four activists from MSS and Greenpeace were arrested for peacefully opposing the marking of trees.
In the petition filed by MSS members, the clearance granted to Mahan coal block violates the Precautionary Principle, Principles of Sustainable Development along with provisions of the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980, National Forest Policy 1988, Biological Diversity Act 2002 and Scheduled Tribe and Other Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006. The coal block was allocated to a joint venture of Essar Power and Hindalco Industries ltd. This is not the only case on Essar, NGT earlier pulled up Essar as the wall of its ash pond dyke linked to Essar's thermal power plant caved in April 2014.
"We've been opposing this illegitimate mining proposal for over two years now. But despite our opposition, the UPA Government went ahead with the stage II forest clearance. The mine tramples over the rights of over 50,000 people from over 54 villages," said Gond.
The non-timber forest produce from Mahan forests serves as a primary source of livelihood for these villagers. The mine will require the felling of over 4 lakh trees.
The National Forest Policy of 1988 states that diversion of forest land for non-forest purpose should be subject to very careful scrutiny, but in case of Mahan, no such scrutiny was done. "Felling of over 4 lakh trees has been dealt with in the most casual manner by the MoEF and the Group of Ministers, which recommended Stage I forest clearance to Mahan coal block," said Priya Pillai, a petitioner and a senior campaigner with Greenpeace India. "The social and the ecological impacts were ignored at every level," she added.