Diverting forest land for mining in Surjagarh opposed

Nagpur: Amid opposition to extraction of ore by Lloyds Metals & Energy at Surjagarh, tribal communities are now demanding scrapping of the proposal to divert 153 hectare dense forest land for Gopani Iron & Power (India) Private Limited in the same area.

The Gopani proposal to divert forest land for iron ore mine at Surjagarh Wurria Hills, in Allapalli division, is 170km from Chandrapur. It was considered for recommendation on Thursday at the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) meeting in Delhi. The company plans to extract 0.40 MTPA of iron ore.

Sources said the proposal was recommended based on a report submitted by MoEFCC's regional office at Nagpur. The report states that the proposed lease area is contiguous to Llyods, hence Gopani should also be granted forest clearance.

However, talking to TOI, Lalsu Nogoti, ZP member from Bhamragarh, who is fighting for tribal rights in Gadchiroli, said, "Locals rights on proposed mine lease area under the Forest Rights Act 2006 have not been settled yet, and hence all the gram sabhas are opposed to mining leases."

Ahead of the FAC meeting on October 26, villagers met on October 21 and opposed the mining lease by writing to FAC. Nogoti too communicated the opposition to the mining lease but the request seems to have been ignored.

Sources claimed that the process for settlement of rights under FRA has already been completed in 2012. But no documentary evidence in support of settlement of rights were seen with the report.

"I will have to check the papers about settlement of rights. No doubt, the proposed area is virgin forest," said a senior Gadchiroli forest official.

Nogoti says tribals' social-cultural and economic subsistence is deeply linked to Surjagad Hills, which are sacred for 70 villages. The tribals here are Madia Gond, which has special protection under the Constitution as a particularly vulnerable tribal group (PVTG). These villages come together every year for Surjagad yatra to pay homage and seek forgiveness from the mountain deity.

"We have already been distressed and have been agitating for cancellation of lease to Lloyds in over 348 hectare of forests on these hills. This lease was also granted without gram sabha consent," said Nogoti. The proposed area is a high density forest and 44,217 trees will have to be felled. Nogoti says removal of trees will adversely impact local ecosystem.

On the contrary, the report submitted by MoEFCC Nagpur office states that no socio-cultural and religious place or sacred groves or very old grown trees have been reported in the area proposed for diversion. Shockingly, the report also doesn't show any presence of wild animals in the area. But Gadchiroli honorary wildlife warden Uday Patel, who, along with a field biologist, did an assessment for Gopani in 2012, says the proposed lease area is scenic and has 17 live perennial water holes.

"We saw presence and evidence of rhesus macaque, mouse deer, giant squirrel, sambar, barking deer, pied horn bill, chousinga, branded krait, sloth bear and otters in Bande river. Bamboo is also available in large quantity. Cane, a rare plant, is found in the area. I'm really surprised how the MoEFCC says there is no wildlife in the area," said Patel.

Even a review of the case by Pushp Jain and Mridhu Tandon of ERC, Delhi, states that SC ruling of 2013 in Niyamgiri Hills in Odisha is applicable in the Surjagarh case. The SC grants tribals rights to practice and propagate not only matters of faith or belief, but all those rituals and observations which are regarded as integral part of their religion.