People planting trees for Mothers, mass tree cutting for Adani
Raipur | Correspondent: Tribal communities in Hasdeo have criticized the BJP-led Rajasthan government for planning to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of trees in Chhattisgarh, despite the government’s call for symbolic tree planting.
They accuse Rajasthan’s Chief Minister of endorsing the mass tree cutting as a celebratory act and aiming to replicate Rajasthan’s industrial model in Chhattisgarh.
Recently, Rajasthan’s Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma expressed gratitude on social media after receiving permission to utilize 91.21 hectares of forest land at Parsa East Kete Basen.
Sharma urged the Chhattisgarh government to facilitate the transfer of this land to RVUN (Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited) after clearing trees from 108 hectares for immediate mining operations and 411 hectares for future mining needs starting from the financial year 2025-26.
He emphasized the necessity of clearing land after felling trees at the Parsa coal block to initiate mining activities and prepare for its transfer to RVUN.
Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma insisted that to commence mining operations at the Parsa coal block, trees must be cleared from the designated land and arrangements should be made promptly to transfer the area to RVUN.
Tribals voiced opposition
The Hasdeo Aranya Bachao Sangharsh Samiti has criticized the contradiction between the central government’s call for tree planting and the Rajasthan Chief Minister’s push, under Adani Group’s influence, to cut down hundreds of thousands of trees.
Expressing concern over the environmental impact and emphasized that large quantities of coal extracted from these mines annually benefit Adani’s power plants, not the people of Rajasthan.
Alleging that Rajasthan purchases costly coal from Adani rather than Coal India, they argued that this contributes to higher electricity costs for Rajasthan residents.
The Samiti questioned the need for extensive tree felling when Chhattisgarh has assured the Supreme Court that Rajasthan’s coal requirements for the next two decades can be met from the existing Parsa East Kete Basen coal mine alone.
They appealed to Rajasthan’s tribal communities for support in their efforts to protect the water, forests, and lands of Hasdeo Aranya from displacement.
सतत विद्युत आपूर्ति को सुनिश्चित करने हेतु प्रतिबद्ध राजस्थान सरकार…
छत्तीसगढ़ सरकार द्वारा राजस्थान के विद्युत गृहों के लिए कोयले की आपूर्ति हेतु हसदेव अरण्य कोलफील्ड में संचालित परसा ईस्ट एवं कांता बासन (पीईकेबी) कोल ब्लॉक की 91.21 हेक्टेयर वनभूमि का उपयोग करने की अनुमति…
— Bhajanlal Sharma (@BhajanlalBjp) July 12, 2024
