by (Comment by Sanjay Parate)
The commentator is the Vice President of Chhattisgarh Kisan Sabha, affiliated to All India Kisan Sabha.
The government is now the mother and father. It makes laws so that the general public remains within its ambit. But whether to follow this law or not is its wish! Even in these laws, enough backdoors are kept so that the dominant class of the society, on whose support this government is based, can easily violate it. This is the relationship between corporate Adani and Modi’s government, which is clearly visible in the case of Hasdeo.
Amid the strong opposition of the local tribal communities of Hasdeo and the strong siege of the mining affected villages by the administration to weaken this opposition, a public hearing is being held today to start excavation in the third coal block Kete Extension, located in the Hasdeo Aranya forest area. This public hearing is also being held in a village which is not affected by mining and is being done on the basis of the Environmental Impact Assessment Report which is of the year 2019 and according to the rules of the Ministry of Environment, which has no legal validity. But in the service of Adani, no rules and regulations come in the way in the Modi-Say regime.
It is noteworthy that the forests of Hasdeo Aranya are called the ‘lungs of central India’, which plays an important role in climate and environmental protection in the country and the world. Today, this forest is on Adani’s target for corporate loot and the entire force of the Modi-Say regime is standing with Adani.
In the same sequence, in response to a question asked by Rajya Sabha MP Sandeep Pathak regarding the felling of Hasdeo Aranya, the Modi government has flaunted this new knowledge through Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Bhupendra Yadav that felling of trees in Hasdeo is necessary to maintain environmental balance! Along with this, he has also informed that 94,460 trees have already been cut in Hasdeo, in lieu of which 53,40,586 trees have been planted. Now 2,73,757 more trees will be cut. (See : Dainik Chhattisgarh, 31 August 2024) Thus, so much effort is being made to allow Adani to excavate coal in the Hasdeo region that the forests are being called a threat to environmental balance. There can be no more ridiculous example of Adani-worship in the Modi-Say regime.
These figures can be easily challenged on the basis of scientific research. According to the Wildlife Institute of India, the density of Hasdeo forest area is 400 per hectare. On this basis, the government’s claim that only 94,460 trees have been cut for the two operational coal mines can be rejected. The actual number of trees felled for the two mines spread over an area of about 4000 hectares reaches 16 lakhs, while the Modi government is admitting to felling of only 6% of the trees. Similarly, the proposed Kete Extension Project is spread over about 1750 hectares of forest area, where the actual estimate of the number of trees is 7 lakhs, but the government is declaring the felling of only 2,73,757 (39.11%) trees. It is clear that fake figures of tree felling are being presented only to hide the actual forest destruction.
The figures being given in the name of tree plantation to compensate for this forest destruction are equally fake. In a scientific way, a maximum of 2000 plants can be planted in one acre. For the more than 53.40 lakh plants that are being claimed to be planted to compensate for the loss caused by felling of trees for the PEKB mine, a minimum of 2670 acres (about 1,168 hectares) of land will be required. The people affected by mining do not know where these trees are planted. Modi government is not ready to tell, so that an independent agency can investigate this claim of the government! If this ratio of plantation is followed, then this government will have to plant 1.55 crore trees to compensate for the environmental damage caused by felling of trees for Kete Extension. For this, at least 7750 acres of land (about 3100 hectares) will be needed. The government is silent on where this land will come from. The whole matter of alleged plantation is a big mess.
By the way, this government does not even know that it is not trees but saplings that are planted, which with proper care grow into young and fruit-bearing trees after decades. Forest areas are natural and the biodiversity and environment formed on its basis create the ecosystem. The alleged plantation, which is actually plantation of saplings, cannot compensate for this loss of nature and ecology caused by felling of trees. No man-made forest in place of the destruction of Hasdeo forests can create lungs that will build the ecology of the country and the world.
The coal produced from the Kete Extension coal block will be given to the Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam. According to the Rajasthan government, it needs about 200 lakh tonnes of coal every year to run its coal-based power plants. But this cannot justify excavation in the Kete Extension coal block, because its requirement is met by the two coal mines currently running. Then, at the pace at which the Rajasthan government is expanding solar power projects, its dependence on coal-based power is going to end completely after 6 years.
Union Minister Bhupendra Yadav’s reply in Rajya Sabha is an example of Adani’s cronyism. The coal from Kete Extension is not needed for the Rajasthan government’s needs but for the coffers of a man who has stolen coal worth Rs 28000 crore from the two mines currently operational in the last ten years.
