Amid protest by locals and green activists, the Chhattisgarh Forest Department on Tuesday started felling trees in Pendramar-Ghatbarra villages of Hasdeo Arand region in Surguja district.
The police were deployed to facilitate the tree felling. Fourteen people were detained for allegedly instigating locals to oppose the action, a police official told The Pioneer.
“The Forest Department started cutting trees in the Pendramar-Ghatbarra forest for the second phase of the Parsa East Kente Basin (PEKB) coal mine,” Surguja Collector Kundan Kumar told the media.
“The felling was not for any new project but for an area where necessary clearances have already been given,” he added.
In the wake of protests by tribals and backed by Chhattisgarh Minister and local MLA T.S. Singh Deo, the Surguja administration had earlier issued instructions to halt the pre-mining work in the area where three coal mine projects allotted to the Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd (RRVUNL) were to begin.
Singh Deo in June visited village Ghatbarra in Hasdeo Arand in support of the locals.
Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel had declared the next day said if Singh Deo did not want trees to be cut down for coal mines, then not a single branch will be chopped.
