The National Board for Wild Life (NBWL) has given the green signal to a proposal recommending the usage of 98.59 hectares of land belonging to the Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve, a proposed reserve forest of Assam, for extraction of coal by Coal India Limited.
Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary is spread across 111.42 sq km, while the Dehing Patkai Reserve, with 937 sq km of the area, surrounds the sanctuary in its periphery. The Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary is also a part of Dehing-Patkai Elephant Reserve. It is located in the Dibrugarh and Tinsukia districts of Assam.
This area is the rare rain-forest of India, which is situated in the foothills of Himalayan range and Dehing is the river flows through this forest, Patkai is the name of the hill on the foot of which it lies. The Dehing-Patkai, which was declared as a Wildlife Sanctuary in 2004, includes parts of Upper Dehing West reserve forest, Dirok rainforest and part of Jeypore. The forest area is also best known as Amazon of the East.
About National Board for Wildlife (NBWL)
Formed in 2003 under the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, it is under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC). The NBWL is chaired by the Prime Minister and is responsible for the promotion of conservation and development of wildlife and forests. The board is ‘advisory’ in nature and can only advise the Government on policymaking for the conservation of wildlife. Also, the standing committee of NBWL is chaired by the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. It is responsible for the promotion of conservation and development of wildlife and forests.
The Digital Protest Is Going On
Many nature lovers, students, organisations have been strongly opposed to this recommendation for coal mining in the forest by the NBWL. Due to the ongoing lockdown, they have launched a protest campaign against this issue through social media, raising their voice over this issue with #SaveDehingPatkai, #IAmDehingPatkai, #SaveBiodiversity etc. A few among them have also embarked on a signature collection drive.
Meanwhile, nature lovers in the state feel that the ecotourism potential of Assam rainforest – Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary straddling Dibrugarh & Tinsukia districts – has been threatened by this decision.
Therefore, nature lovers, environmentalists and green NGOs have called to stop any current or future coal mining project at the forest area. They believe that such a project will lead to the biodiversity loss of the place, which will endanger the species living there. Animals will also suffer due to habitat loss which will highly probably lead to increased men-animal conflicts.
What Is The Government’s Response?
Now, the Assam government has also responded to the issue. Assam Forest and Environment Minister, Parimal Shuklabaidya, said in the press brief that mining has been stopped in October 2019 and till date, no final approval has been accorded. Coal India and Forest department would have to fulfil 28 conditions and the compliance report will be placed before the central government for grant of stage II clearance.
“Our government will not allow any coal mining at the cost of environment and we have not applied for any approval for coal mining”, he added. You can read more about this press brief in here.
Before visiting the place, the Forest Minister of Assam also said that the state government has committed to protecting Assam’s environment and biodiversity and the state government has no plan to devastate Assam’s rainforests. Earlier, Assam’s Chief Minister, Sarbananda Sonowal, directed the State Forest Minister to visit the place to take stock of the actual situation.
“We are committed to protecting Assam’s environment and biodiversity. No one should cast aspersions on state government’s sincerity to preserve the natural beauty, greenery and natural resources of the state,” CM also told reporters.
However, the media reports are also saying that the Assam forest department has slapped a penalty of Rs 43.25 crore on PSU major Coal India Ltd for carrying out ‘illegal mining’ inside a reserve forest for 16 years from 2003. In the end, The Dehing Patkai Forest is one of the most important forests of Assam in terms of its rich bio-diversity. Therefore, the issue needs to be solved by saving environmental breakdown before it’s too late.