HASDEO ARANYA REGION

Context

Private member resolution

• An MLA who is not a minister whether he or she happens to be from the ruling party or not is a private member.
• A private member resolution can be brought in by a private member and if passed, it becomes an expression of what the House thinks.
• This is different from a private member bill which would become the law in case of approval.
• The State Assemblies of Punjab and Kerala passed such private member resolutions during the farm law agitation.
• Both state legislatures expressed their displeasure against the then-proposed farm laws.
  The Chhattisgarh Assembly has passed a resolution urging the Centre to cancel the allocation of all coal mining blocks in the Hasdeo Region.

Importance of the Hasdeo-Aranya region

• It lies in the catchment area of the Hasdeo river and is spread across 1,878 sq km in North-Central Chhattisgarh.
• The Hasdeo river is a tributary of the Mahanadi river which originates in Chhattisgarh and flows through Odisha into the Bay of Bengal.
• The Hasdeo forests are also the catchment area for the Hasdeo Bango Dam Built across the Hasdeo river which irrigates six lakh acres of land is crucial to a state with paddy as its main crop.
• The forests are ecologically sensitive due to the rich biodiversity they offer and due to the presence of a large migratory corridor for elephants.

Controversy 

• Underneath the Hasdeo Aranya is a coalfield that comprises 22 coal blocks.
• In 2010, the Centre categorised it to be a "no-go" zone for mining.
• A year later, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF) granted clearance for the mining of one coal block.
• At present seven blocks have been allotted to different companies.
• Of these, two the Parsa East Kete Basan (PEKB) and Chotia (I and II) are operational.
• The PEKB Phase I has been completely mined while there has been local opposition to mining and deforestation in Parsa.
• PEKB Phase II and Kete Extension are all three allotted to the Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd (RRVUNL).

Withdrawal 

• After the Gram Sabhas opposed mining in the Madanpur South and Gidmudi Paturia blocks, the clearances were withdrawn.
• The resolution notes that mining activities are halted in all five of these blocks.
• Four other blocks are removed for the auction after the state government requested that these are located in the catchment areas of the two important rivers Hasdeo and Mand.
• The state government is to use the same principle to stop mining in the already allocated Hasdeo coal blocks where no activity has started thus far.
• The coal blocks may be allotted elsewhere in Chhattisgarh or the rest of the mining-rich areas in the country.

Will mining stop after the resolution is passed?

• Despite the members of both the ruling Congress and the Principal Opposition BJP that is in power at the Centre adopting it, the resolution is not expected to change the existing conditions.
• Congress says the onus is on the Centre to stop mining.
• The BJP has been asking the State government to withdraw the clearances it has issued to mine developers and operators (MDOs)who handle all mining activities on behalf of the companies that hold the mining lease.
• Due to mining in PEKB and Parsa, three lakh trees will be felled which would be harmful to Chhattisgarh.
• The clearances provided by the State government such as the final clearance from the forest department and those under the Air Pollution Act and the Water Pollution Act.