NAINI MINE

May 6, 2022

The Union Coal Ministry has sought to rush through the forest diversion process for proposed opencast coal mining in Angul district of Odisha which would require the felling of more than one lakh standing trees in a reserve forest and cause disturbance to the elephant herds.

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Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), a joint venture company of the Government of India and Telangana, has proposed to mine coal at the Naini mine in Chhendipada tahasli of the district.
The total requirement of land for the project is 912.799 hectares, of which 643.095 hectares is reserve forestland and 140.18 hectares is village forestland. The remaining is non-forestland.
The SCCL is waiting for environment and forest clearance before diverting 783.275 hectares of forestland for the coal field, which is in the south-eastern corner of the lower Gondwana basin within the Mahanadi Valley.
1,05,092 trees would have to be felled in the Chhendipda reserve forest, 1,087 in a revenue forest and 327 in non-forestland.

Source : The Hindu