The first project, which involves diverting over 360 hectares (ha) of forest land, pertains to the Pelma open cast mine of the state-owned South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL). In 2023, SECL signed an agreement with Pelma Collieries — a subsidiary of the Adani Enterprises Limited — to operate the mine.
The other project, requiring the diversion of more than 620 ha of forest land, relates to mining at the Purunga underground coal block by Ambuja Cements Limited, a subsidiary of the Adani Group.
The Environment Ministry’s forest advisory committee (FAC) recommended stage-I (in-principle) approval for the diversion of forest land for both the projects during its meeting on July 7.
The stage-I clearance stipulates conditions, including compensatory afforestation, which must be fulfilled before stage-II formal diversion approval can be granted.
Mining at the Pelma mine in Raigarh’s Tamnar tehsil will result in cutting more than 52,000 trees, according to the FAC meeting minutes.
The project is located within a high conservation value (HCV) zone, meaning the forest land needing diversion comprises very dense forest patches. The mining site is adjacent to the Kelo river as well.However, the FAC observed, as stated in the meeting minutes, that “the state government submitted that the proposal, being a mining project, is site-specific in nature with no feasible alternative location”.
The committee also noted that there had been movement of wild elephants in and around the land proposed for diversion.
In the case of Pelma mine, tree felling will be confined to 9.982 ha out of the 621.331 ha of forest land proposed for diversion, according to the meeting minutes. This will be done to establish approved surface infrastructure.
Because the project involves underground mining, it may cause tensile strain — the horizontal stretching of the ground surface as underground workings cause the overlying earth to shift — of 4.48 mm/m in the forest area, meaning a one-metre stretch of surface ground would deform by more than four millimetres.
“Accordingly, appropriate mitigation measures shall be implemented by the state government, at the cost of the user agency (project proponent), to reduce tensile strain on the surface,” the FAC recommended.
If subsidence exceeds the predicted level, the project proponent will have to pay the net present value — a monetary quantification of the ecological services provided by the diverted forest area — and carry out compensatory afforestation under ministry guidelines.
In the event of any adverse impact on forest cover due to subsidence, safety measures will have to be implemented by the project proponent in coordination with the state forest department.