Hasdeo Aranya forests

Hasdeo Aranya forests

Subject : Environment

Section: Biodiversity

Context: Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly has unanimously passed a resolution July 27, 2022 urging the Centre to cancel allocation of coal blocks in Hasdeo Aranya forests.

Tribal communities and activists have been opposing coal mining in the forests for a long time, fearing damage to its biodiversity.

There are five coal blocks in the region, which includes areas like Parsa, Parsa East Kete Basan (PEKB), PEKB Extension, GidhmuriPaturia, Madanpur South and Chotia.

The Hasdeo forest

The Hasdeo forest covering Chhattisgarh’s Korba, Sarguja and Surajpur districts, spans an area of 170,000 hectares. It is a noted migratory corridor and has a significant presence of elephants.

It is also the catchment area of the Hasdeo river, the largest tributary of the Mahanadi. The area was declared as a ‘No-Go Zone’ for mining by the Centre in 2009. Despite this, mining in the region continued as the policy for the ‘No-Go Zone’ was not finalised.