Villagers in Jharsuguda and Sambalpur districts are vehemently protesting tree cutting by NLC India company for its coalmines development.
Addressing a meeting at Mundapada on Wednesday in Jharsuguda district, environmentalist Prafulla Samantara alleged that the State Government was not implementing the Forest Safety Act and the Forest Rights Act for coalmines and energy plants
Mundapada is a project affected village by Talabira 2 and 3 coalmines. Over 100 villagers of Patrapali, Talabira, Budhiapada, Khudipada, Mundapada and Khinda attended the meeting lodging their protest.
In case the tree felling was not stopped by the district administration, villagers have warned of intensifying the protest.
Official sources said that around 160 families of Budhiapalli village are totally dependent on the forest. 4729.65 acres land will be acquired for extension of Talabira 2 and 3 coalmines. Out of this land, only 2565.36 acres land is the forest land.
According to official records, 2,880 families and 10,000 families will be affected in the two projects respectively. Around 4,000 threes will be cut.
Ananta Panda from Lokmukti Sangathan, Dillip Kumar Sahoo, Chandrasekar Rout, Sanatan Budhia, Bhagirathi Mund, Akula Pradhan were present in the meeting among others in which affected villagers took oath to fight for the forest safety.