Save Tadoba Tiger Reserve

An Appeal

Say ‘no’ to Adani Coal mine; save Tadoba! : By Shyam Pandhripande

An Appeal by the environmentally concerned citizens of Vidarbha

We, the environmentally concerned citizens of Vidarbha, do hereby make a fervent appeal to the government authorities concerned in Maharashtra and at the center not to allow any coal mine operation in close vicinity of the Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) that would adversely impact the region’s rich ecosystem and particularly the endangered species of tiger.

Our serious concern stems from the reported move to allow M/s Adani Power Ltd. to operate an opencast coal mine in village Lohara of Chandrapur district of Maharashtra for which a coal block admeasuring 1750 hectares is being leased out to the company. A whopping 1600 hectares of the land being leased out to the company to mine coal for its proposed thermal power project in Tiroda in Gondia district supports rich forest and wide-ranging biodiversity including a sizable tiger population. Nearly 1.3 million full grown trees are going to be cut down to clear the land for the coal mine whose operation is bound to cause grave damage to the ecosystem above and below the land and a large area around it.

The biodiversity mainly consists of 18 animal species, nine of which, including tiger and leopard, are endangered (included in Schedule I of endangered species), 75 species of trees, 35 species of shrubs and herbs, 16 species of grass and bamboo and 21 species of climbers. The environmental cost of the project, mentioned by the company in its environmental impact analysis is a mind boggling Rs.2778864561 (nearly Rs. 2.78 billion).

The buffer zone of the proposed coal mine covers an area of six reserve forests. Also under imminent threat because of the coal mine is Asia’s only and one of the world’s 12 teakwood gene pools (National Germ-plasm Bank) which houses 279 mother plants with three replicas of each. The coal mine is also bound to damage the only surviving corridor that connects the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve to the forests in south India. This will hamper the vitally important movement of tiger from one forest to another

Besides, we cannot forget that forest is the mother of rivers (jungle nadi ki Ma hai).

The company proposes to mine four million tons of coal per annum for which it will have to excavate 17 times as much soil – that is 78 million tons per year. It will use 55 tons of explosives for the blasting operations per day! All this in close vicinity of India’s best tiger reserve which is home to 45 tigers! How can we talk of tiger conservation when we are destroying its habitat? And what then is the point in the government spending billions for the tiger?

While we are fully aware of the severe power crunch prevailing in the country and of the imperative need to surmount it, and while therefore there is no question of anybody being opposed to any power generation venture including that proposed by M/s Adani Power Ltd., we are of a considered view that colossal environmental damage must be avoided at all costs. We would therefore repeat our appeal to refuse permission to the proposed coal mine in Lohara and thereby save the tiger and the forest in and around TATR.