On April 6, 2022, the Chhattisgarh government approved mining in the contentious #Parsa open cast mining (OCM) project which will clear 841.538 hectares of the dense Hasdeo Arand forest land. It has sent the people in the region on an angry protest. We explain why. A #thread

Miners have been eyeing the coal beneath this green cover for over a decade now, and the state’s final nod to chop down this dense forest threatens the biodiversity and livelihoods that depend on it (1/23)

The story of Parsa coal block, Hasdeo Arand forest and its people is symptomatic of the ‘resource curse’. (2/23)

Once a mine has been located under a forest, however dense it may be, the forest eventually gets cut. The people eventually lose their rights. It's only a matter of when. In this case, its a contest that lasted 10 days. Till the people lost. (3/23)

All those in power, regardless of political hues - from the BJP at the Centre and the Congress govt in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh have played a similar role in this episode. (4/23)

Until now, only Adani-operated Parsa East and Kente Basan coal blocks were sanctioned for mining. Now, Parsa block has been ‘allocated’ to Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd to meet its coal requirements. This too will be run by the Adani group. 5/23 https://tinyurl.com/449smzk6

The OCM spans across 6 villages- Salhi, Ghatbarra, Hariharpur, Fatehpur and Udaypur. As per the environmental clearance, 95,458 trees will be cut down. But other records show 2.5 lakh trees are to be cut down for the project and 700 people displaced. 6/23
https://twitter.com/SHasdeo/status/1523643549740265472

Back in 2010, a study by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEFCC) and Coal Ministry, classified all of Hasdeo’s 20 coal blocks as “no-go” areas for mining due to their weighted forest cover. (7/23)
https://pib.gov.in/newsite/PrintRelease.aspx?relid=78622

This changed when in 2011, the then env minister under UPA govt granted forest clearance to PEKB blocks, opening up the forest to mining. He overruled his own forest committee’s recommendation stating the blocks were in the fringes and comparatively had poorer forest cover(8/23)

Stating that Parsa was located in-between the Tara and PEKB blocks, the letter explicitly mentioned that the Parsa block should not be opened commercially until 2016, to protect Hasdeo’s ecological fragility (9/23)

In 2015, 20 Gram Sabhas (village assemblies) passed a resolution stating that the auction of coal mines was in violation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006 provisions and agitated against the miners (10/23)
https://www.livemint.com/Politics/9ReivDrAjzdvv7d6Hw8NGL/20-gram-sabhas-in-Chhattisgarh-pass-resolutions-against-auct.html

In 2016, the state govt illegally canceled community forest rights granted under FRA to tribals in Ghatbarra, stating hindrance to mining operations in the area. This violates the Act, as FRA does not provide for any revocation of rights once granted 11/23
https://thewire.in/agriculture/chhattisgarh-govt-cancels-tribal-rights-over-forests-to-facilitiate-coal-mining

In 2017, RRVNUL scheduled public hearings to seek Gram Sabhas’ approval for the diversion of forest land, as mandated by the Panchayat (Extension of the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996. The project’s impact on agriculture and forest-dependent livelihoods were discussed as well (12/23)

Protests seeking implementation of FRA and the PESA, 1996 intensified as the company sought forest and environmental clearances for the Parsa coal block (13/23)

In a letter addressed to the State tribal welfare department, RRVNUL mentioned that villagers supported the project in public hearings. They also attached a no-objection certificate reportedly issued by Gram panchayats for the mining project (14/23)

Upon the recommendations from the forest committee, in 2018, the project received environmental clearance despite Gram Sabhas of Hariharpur Salhi and Fatehpur withholding their consent. (15/23)
http://environmentclearance.nic.in/writereaddata/Online/EDS/31_May_2018\_102626187KLU5LJSNFinalReplyLettertoEACObservationsforupload.pdf

Activists claim that the government based its approval to mine the forests on forged Gram Sabha documents that weren’t investigated, going against the fifth schedule of PESA and FRA- said
@alokshuklacg
, the convener of Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan (16/23)
https://legislative.gov.in/sites/default/files/A1996-40.pdf

“Hasdeo is a 5th schedule Area. As per PESA, land acquisition cannot go forth without gram sabhas’ consent. However, the notices were issued under Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development ) Act, 1957 which has been challenged in the Chhattisgarh HC"
@alokshuklacg 17/23

EC was granted provided the project proponents finance a study by the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education and Wildlife Institute which highlighted the impact of mining on Hasdeo Bango Dam and flagged the significant increase in human-elephant conflict 18/23

In 2020, the project received Stage-I forest clearance after it purportedly met all the stipulated conditions including bearing the cost of compensatory afforestation and consent from Gram Sabhas. The Stage-II clearance was given in 2021 (19/23)
https://www.hindustantimes.com/cities/others/chhattisgarh-govt-grants-final-approval-for-parsa-mining-project-101649759452511-amp.html

The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 entrusts the National Tiger Conservation Authority with the authority to restrict mining and other projects which it deems ecologically unsustainable to tiger reserves (20/23)

Following this, NTCA has written to Chhattisgarh chief wildlife warden seeking an explanation for the same as the forest committee had also recommended State Wildlife Board’s permission for the project (22/23)

As the protests against the continuous legal violations made by project proponents in Parsa gain momentum, a case on the matter is listed in front of the Supreme Court to be heard on July 14. (23/23)
https://twitter.com/LiveLawIndia/status/1519908740631531520

Research for the thread by
@pragathi_r24
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