Around 60 trees were cut in presence of police force despite protest from villagers
Surveillance was done through drone
As villagers continued to oppose the tree felling, cutting of trees stopped
Ambikapur
Around 60 trees were cut down for mining in the ParsaCoal Block in Hasdeo Aranya in Surguhja district of Chhattisgarh on Monday before the villagers swung into action and strongly opposed the act carried out in the presence of heavy police force.
By the time large number of villagers, including women, reached carrying sticks in their hands to protest the tree felling, after which the tree felling was stopped by the administration. Surveillance was being done through drone. Chhattisgarhia Kranti Senapresident also reached in support of the villagers. Additional SP Vivek Shukla, SDM Ambikapur PradeepSahu, SDM Udaipur Aniket Sahu were present at the spot to ensure law and order prevails.
Two drone cameras were used by the police in the Ghatbara forest area for surveillance and monitor the agitating villagers. According to the villagers, dozens of automatic machines were brought into operation to cut the trees.
The people of Hariharpur, Fatehpur and Salhi gram panchayats of Udaipur region were opposing the opening of the mine since the year 2019. The villagers have written to the Prime Minister, President of India and Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh registering their protest.
Parsa East Basan Coal Mines is already running in Udaipur area. For this, 640 hectares of land has been acquired. Mining was to be done here till 2028, but mining was done before that and permission has been given for the second phase. Here in Ghatbara village, half the people are in favor of the mine and half are against it, sources said.
Adani will do coal mining for Rajasthan Rajya VidyutUtpadan Nigam Limited and from here 1200 hectares of land is falling under the mining area. 841 hectares of forest will be cleared. At the same time, 1000 people of four villages i.e. 250 families will be displaced. At the same time, there is a preparation to extract five million tonnes of coal every year for 30 years.
