Ten days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a controversial auction of 41 coal blocks, 11 in Madhya Pradesh, three in Maharashtra, and nine in Jharkhand, Odisha and Chattisgarh, the Union Ministry of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs withdrew Maharashtra ‘s coal block from the auction.
Bander is located in the Eco-Sensitive Area (ESA) surrounding the Protected Area (P.A.) of the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR). This block covers 1,644 hectares of land. Apart from being part of the ESA, it is also part of a wildlife corridor linking the TATR to other tiger areas in the districts of Nagpur, Bhandara and Gondia. The corridor is a crucial aspect of wildlife conservation that allows the free movement of all animals and also prevents man-animal conflict.
In view of its position, and also given the existence of an ESA notification prohibiting mining in this zone, Bander should not have been included in the 41 coal blocks put up for auction. The special gazette of 11 September 2019, published only recently, is the reason why the Ministry of Coal has withdrawn Bander from the auction list.
According to a source who has been closely involved with the move to protect the TATR, “Due to delays in printing and then the lockdown it was not made public until now.”
When asked if the Ministry of Coal and the Ministry of Environment, Forestry and Climate Change (MoEFCC) were not aware of the notification, the source said, “This incident indicates that there is no coordination between ministries. Bander should not have been included in the list anyway by the Ministry of Coal. It tried this in 2010 and was rejected, but they just tried their luck again. Apparently, they didn’t bother consulting with MoEFCC.”
Tweets by the former Minister for the Environment of the Union, Jairam Ramesh, were further proof that Bander should never have been on the auction list. In his tweet to the current Minister for the Environment, Prakash Javadekar, he said: “The auctioning of coal blocks in very rich biodiversity areas against ‘go’/’no go’ classification is a triple disaster and must be cancelled immediately. The influence of politically powerful producers of power is evident. The PM has to talk about climate change.”
The Twitter thread went on to add: “Bringing to your attention as well @AUThackeray. The Bander coal block is dangerously close to the Tadoba Tiger Reserve and mining there cannot be allowed at any cost. Please save Tadoba!”
Jairam Ramesh also tweeted a copy of his letter dated June 19 to Javadekar, in which he specifically mentioned the “go” and “no go” classification of coal blocks, categories that had been decided in 2009-10. Referring to the Prime Minister’s commitment on global warming, he tweeted: “What sort of commitment is this that coal blocks in very dense forest areas are being opened up for mining?… I am aware that some politically powerful power producers have had their eyes on some of these coal blocks—the one dangerously near Tadoba for instance with which I am sure you are familiar. Clearly, their influence is very evident in this decision to open up coal mining in such ecologically fragile and sensitive zones.”
The “go” area refers to the revenue land, while the “no go” area is the P.A., of which there are about 800 in the country. Eco-sensitive zones that surround all P.A.s and vary from 1 to 10 kilometers in width are also included in the “no go” category. Technically, the wildlife corridors, too, fall under this category. “Unfortunately, there are no wildlife groups in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand fighting for the elephant corridors that will be destroyed by the coal blocks on auction there. So, the Ministry of Mines is just going ahead, “the source said. Asked why the MoEFCC did not step in to save those corridors, the source stated that there was clearly no desire in the Ministry to do so.
