Chhattisgarh: Ramesh attacks Centre over environmental clearance to coal mining project

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Sunday, 29 June, attacked the Centre over environmental clearance to a coal mining project in Chhattisgarh, saying the recognition of community forest rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, cannot be wished away.

The former environment minister said that on 15 January 2024, the two-member Bhopal Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) delivered a 209-page judgment quashing the environmental clearance given on 11 July 2022, to the Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited (MAHAGENCO) for mining of coal at Gare Palma, Sector-II in Raigarh district of Chhattisgarh.

The Congress general secretary in charge of communications said the open-cast mine covers an area of over 6,300 acres spread across 14 villages. Of this, about 8 per cent is a rich forest area.

"The judgment was detailed and concluded: The procedure prescribed by law for the grant of environmental clearance had not been followed both in letter and spirit," Ramesh said.

On Jan 15, 2024, the two-member Bhopal Bench of the National Green Tribunal (NGT) delivered a 209-page judgment quashing the environmental clearance given on July 11, 2022, to the Maharashtra State Power Generation Company Limited (MAHAGENCO) for mining of coal at Gare Palma,…

— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) June 29, 2025

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It stated that the requirement for a public hearing had not been met in accordance with the prescribed law, the Congress leader said.

"The project's impact on public health, hydrology, and its cumulative effect on the local ecosystem had neither been properly considered nor appraised," Ramesh said, citing the judgment.

"Within just seven months, however, a fresh environmental clearance was issued. Now, massive tree felling has commenced. Should we be surprised and shocked? Perhaps not, since the mine operator and the developer are the Adani Group," he said in his post on X.

"At the very least, the NGT must convince itself that the grounds for its initial rejection are no longer valid, that proper public consultations have indeed been held, and that health, hydrology, and cumulative impact assessments have indeed been carried out in a professional manner," Ramesh said.

In addition, the recognition of community forest rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, cannot be simply wished away, he added.

Ramesh shared a media report that claimed that at least 5,000 trees were cut on 26 and 27 June in the villages of Mudagaon and Saraitola in Tamnar tehsil in Chhattisgarh's Raigarh district as part of a massive tree felling operation to set up the coal mine in the Gare Palma Sector II coal block.

There was no immediate response from the state and central governments over the claims.