In Chhattisgarh Hasdeo-Arand, Rajasthan govt coal block granted in-principle forest clearance

📌 Summary:

• The MoEFCC has granted in-principle forest clearance (issued June 9) to divert 1,742.6 hectares of Hasdeo-Arand forest for the Kente Extension Coal Block, allotted to the Rajasthan government (RVUNL) and to be mined by the Adani Group
• The clearance overrides a 2021 biodiversity assessment by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and ICFRE, which recommended no mining in the Hasdeo-Arand coal fields except the already-operational Parsa East Kente Basan mine, and flagged the area as critical elephant habitat
• Scale of impact: felling of 4.48 lakh trees (97,837 in the first five years); translocation of 67,414 trees under 60 cm girth; compensatory afforestation over 130.6 ha non-forest and 4,450.3 ha degraded forest land
• Mining is phased: Phase-I limited to 1,001.95 ha over 15 years; Phase-II (740.65 ha) linked to reforestation and biodiversity management in Phase-I
• Coal will feed RVUNL's Chhabra and Suratgarh power plants in Rajasthan (block allotted October 2015 for captive use)
• Ecological significance: Hasdeo-Arand (~1.75 lakh ha across Korba, Surguja, Surajpur) is dense Sal forest, home to nine Schedule-I species (leopards, sloth bears, elephants), a catchment for the Hasdeo river and Bango Dam, and within 10 km of the Lemru Elephant Reserve; it was earmarked a "no-go" zone under the UPA; tribal/environmental groups (Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan) have objected

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 Environment — forest diversion vs energy needs, EIA and forest clearance process, biodiversity and tribal/forest rights (FRA), elephant corridors.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• Hasdeo-Arand spans Korba, Surguja and Surajpur districts of Chhattisgarh; dense Sal forests; ~1.75 lakh ha
• Near the Lemru Elephant Reserve; catchment for the Hasdeo river and Bango Dam
• Biodiversity assessment conducted by WII and ICFRE (2021)

🔑 Key Term: In-principle (Stage-I) Forest Clearance — first-stage approval under the Forest (Conservation) Act for diverting forest land, subject to conditions before final (Stage-II) clearance.