New Delhi, Sep 22 (PTI) An underground coal mining project in Madhya Pradesh’s Umaria district, close to a tiger corridor connecting the Bandhavgarh Tiger Reserve and Achanakmar Wildlife Sanctuary, has received a key approval from the Union environment ministry’s expert panel.
This is the fourth coal mining project near the Bandhavgarh-Achanakmar tiger corridor to get such clearance since July this year.
The latest project involves operations at the West of Shahdol (South) Underground Coal Mine, just over 6 km from the tiger corridor. The decision was taken during the expert panel’s meetings during September 8-9.
Previously, mining was approved at the Pathora East Underground Coal Mining Block (Sohagpur coalfield), Marwatola VII Coal Block and Arjuni West Coal Block, 1.5 km, 53 metres and 3.9 km from the tiger corridor, respectively.
Tiger corridors are crucial because they help maintain biodiversity, allow tiger populations to interbreed and facilitate movement of fauna and flora species. They provide access to larger habitats, enable species to cross hostile areas and increase their range.
“The Bandhavgarh-Achanakmar corridor connects two very important sub-landscapes, the Kanha-Pench (tiger) population with Bandhavgarh-Sanjay-Dubri populations,” according to a 2014 document — ‘Connecting Tiger Populations for Long-term Conservation’ — published by the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) in collaboration with the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
It notes that the corridor requires serious attention for restoration in terms of ecology and socio-economic inputs.
Further, due to availability of coal in this landscape, there is ever-present pressure of infrastructure development associated with coal mining, the document states.
The West of Shahdol (South) Underground Coal Mine has a mining lease area of more than 1,400 hectares (ha), including over 960 ha of forest land, according to minutes of the meeting of the Union environment ministry’s expert appraisal committee (EAC).
The proposed project, to be operated by JK Cement Limited, will “disturb” only 19 ha of forest land, as it pertains to underground mining. However, this kind of mining can lead to land subsidence, resulting in changes in surface topography, draining of wetlands, and harm delicate forest canopies, according to the project’s environment impact assessment (EIA) report.
The EIA report also notes that the project site has 29 Schedule-I species, including sloth bear, tiger, panther, leopard, common jungle cat and striped hyena.
Under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, Schedule-I species are endangered and high-priority animals and plants which require protection.
The EAC recommended the project for grant of environment clearance (EC) subject to certain conditions and submission of documents. This includes getting stage-I (in-principle) approval for forest land diversion from the ministry’s forest advisory committee (FAC).
The stage-I clearance stipulates conditions, including compensatory afforestation, which must be fulfilled before stage-II — formal diversion approval.
During its meeting on July 27, the EAC recommended grant of EC for mining at the Pathora East Underground Coal Mining Block (Sohagpur Coalfield) by Bajrang Power and Ispat Limited. The project has a mining lease area of more than 1,000 ha, including over 800 ha of forest land.
The panel gave its recommendation based on conditions, stipulating that the project proponent must comply with the regional wildlife conservation plan being prepared by the state forest department through the Wildlife Institute of India (WII).
Similar conditions were laid down while granting clearance to the Marwatola VII Coal Block and the Arjuni West Coal Block projects during the meetings held on July 8-9.
In the Marwatola VII Coal Block’s case, for example, the project proponent must implement the wildlife conservation plan approved by Madhya Pradesh’s chief wildlife warden and principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife), in consultation with the state forest department.
This coal block, which involves over 1,000 ha of forest land out of the 1,200-ha lease area, will be operated partly as an open-cast and partly as an underground mine by Rama Cement Industries Private Limited.
The project proponent for the Arjuni West Coal Block too must obtain approval for the site-specific wildlife conservation plan, including wildlife corridor protection measures, from the principal chief conservator of forests (wildlife).
The mining will be done underground by Ganga Khanij Private Limited, and will result in diversion of about 1,000 ha of forest land. PTI ALC ARB
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