A day after the Gauhati High Court admitted a public interest litigation petition challenging the National Board of Wildlife’s (NBWL) approval for coal mining in an elephant reserve in eastern Assam, the State government asserted that it has not approved mining in the area.
Advocate Mrinmoy Khataniar and mountaineer Amarjyoti Deka had on May 26 filed the PIL plea online against an open-cast project by North Eastern Coalfields, a unit of Coal India Limited, near the Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary “in view of the conflicting stands of various departments involved”.
The sanctuary, often referred to as ‘Amazon of Assam’ because of its sub-tropical rainforest, and the Saleki Proposed Reserve Forest where mining has been approved, is a part of the Dehing Patkai Elephant Reserve straddling Tinsukia, Dibrugarh and Sivasagar districts.
Preconditions
“The State government has not approved mining in the area since October 2019. Coal India Limited and the Forest Department would have to fulfill the 28 conditions laid down by the Environment Ministry and the compliance report will be placed before the Centre for Stage II clearance. Only on the grant of Stage II clearance, mining can begin,” State Forest Minister Parimal Suklabaidya said on Saturday.
However, he added that the area in question does not fall in the Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary and the State government would in no condition allow mining by destroying its forests, he said.
Directed by Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, Mr Suklabaidya had on May 26 visited North Eastern Coalfield’s Tikok open cast project site.
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