Bander coal block: Cast open for disaster

Nagpur: The waistbelt-wide National Highway 353 is a well-planned connector for north-south human movement. Bhiwapur, famous for its red chillies, lies to the north and Warora, popular as Baba Amte’s abode, is in the south. Parts of the road are in a permanent state of alternate repair and despair. Machinery, some of it immobile, conveys the effort being taken for the smooth movement of man and goods.
As you negotiate pothole-ridden Chimur town and head towards the popular Navegaon gate of Tadoba and Andhari Tiger Reserve, a fading welcome arch passes as a blur in the whizzing foliage.‘Happy New Year 2014’, it reads — in letters that appear older than just six years. ‘Welcome to Shivapur Bander’, reads another line. They are twin villages located on either side of a narrow road off the highway. Bander suddenly caught national attention after the area was designated as a milch cow for coal. One of the 41 coal blocks in the country, it is to be gift-wrapped for the highest private bidder.
Bander derives its name from monkeys in permanent residency there. The village is a tiny, insignificant blip with around 1,250 poverty-ridden, unlettered and malleable folks. The Bander coal mining area is 1,644 hectares, or 16.44 sq kms, which is five times the size of the Lonar crater and the sanctuary around it. Around 12 sq kms of this expanse is virgin forest.
This humongous parcel of land is replete with tall, magnificent green monuments and thick ground cover more congested than a traffic jam in Delhi, Mumbai or Bengaluru. The area is a well-documented, ancient natural route used by wildlife for smooth and unhindered dispersal from Tadoba to other sanctuaries of Vidarbha like Umred-Karhandla, Pench, Bor and Melghat. The only human intervention it required was deliberate neglect.
While the protected areas of Tadoba and its buffer zone lie on the left side of the highway as one travels from Chimur to Warora, Bander village is just across the road from this legally protected forest. The buffer of a forest protects the core area. Outside it lies the eco-sensitive zone which provides the ‘suraksha kavach’. The Bander coal block lies smack in the middle of this area and even juts into the buffer like the rounded edge of a jigsaw puzzle.
Coal mines too have a core and buffer. The core is the area where mining activities take place, which, in the case of Bander, will be both opencast and underground. The 10km buffer is where its ill effects — pollution and destruction of green monuments — are seen. The core of Bander coal block gnaws into the buffer of Tadoba. “The core of Tadoba too will take a significant hit, perhaps even as far as Tadoba lake,” says Bandu Dhotre of Eco-Pro, an NGO of Chandrapur which works for green conservation.
When TOI first reported about Bander coal block going for auctioning on June 19, it was felt that the area is an already unsafe 7-8 kms from Tadoba buffer. Referring to several maps, Dhotre and Prafulla Bhamburkar — who works with Wildlife Trust of India — now say there is clinching proof that a part of the coal block core is inside the buffer of Tadoba. “These forests cannot be recreated with any amount of mandatory compensatory tree plantation,” says Bhamburkar. “It will have to be written off as a big loss to the environment”.
In the thickets, there is a rustling sound. Disturbed by human presence, an adult wild boar leaps like a spotted deer to safety. Its brood ducks into the undergrowth, quietly munching away at the abundant food. Dhotre spots not-very-old tiger pugmark in a puddle of overnight rain. Droppings of other herbivores signify the healthy wildlife that Tadoba harbours.
A few years ago, Bhamburkar had set up camera traps in the forest beyond Bander village for the forest department. Last week, state minister Vijay Wadettiwar said there are six resident tigers here. “The forest extends to Wardha and Nagpur districts, offering excellent opportunities for the spillover wildlife population of Tadoba to migrate or even claim territories to set up new homes,” says Bhamburkar.
Just outside Bander village, Manoj Kamdi (35) is with a herd of cattle. He is a professional shepherd taking the village cow population out to graze. “Last year, 16 cattle were killed by leopards. No, I haven’t seen any tigers but several other wild animals, yes,” he says. Kamdi adds that villagers are dependent on minor forest produce like tendu and fuel wood found in the forest. “The mining will put an end to our livelihood,” he says.
The public works department is undertaking road widening of NH 353. Near Bander village, it has agreed to build an underpass 750 metres long for unhindered wildlife movement. “The highway will have to be diverted through some other nearby area as it cuts through the coal block. So do the transmission towers now standing on the farmland of Bander villagers. This means more forest diversion. The total loss is unimaginable and irreparable,” says Dhotre, who sowed the first seeds of protest by undertaking a motorcycle rally in Chandrapur district last week.
A shop selling essentials for villagers and passing motorists also serves as a gossip stage for the stained dhoti-and-vest-clad, and those in three-quarters and sleeveless Tees. The word that Bander is up for auction again — the last time being 10 years ago — has got tongues wagging, but in no specific direction.
Grocery shop owner Devidas Shrimane says, “Mining will be opposed. Today, we have water in abundance due to the forests. Farmers grow cotton, soyabean, gram (chana) and paddy in two crop cycles.” Haridas Meshram (82) says, “I’m breathing fresh air due to these forest patches. Mines will completely destroy the ecology.” A younger Suhas Purankar, a sarpa mitra (snake rescuer), says, “Mining companies provide jobs to only those whose farmland falls in the project. Agricultural land of many farmers in the surrounding villages will virtually become useless due to pollution.”
Shivapur sarpanch Shribhrosh Dhok says, “I feel mines can bring in some employment for village youth even though past experiences with mining companies have been scary. We are in no hurry to say ‘yes’ to mines.”
What Dhok is referring to is the ordeal of neighbouring Murpar village, where a government-run underground mine has been functional since 1990. At a time when renaissance in green consciousness was probably not even born, the mines got the sanction to function despite being just 5 kms from Tadoba buffer. “Murpar is facing severe water crisis due to the underground mining,” says Dhok.
Bharat Jambhule (65), a former contractual worker in Murpar mine, laments the decision to allow mining in Murpar 30 years ago. “We thought our fortunes would change. On the contrary, the underground mine has turned the village completely dry. All the village wells have dried up and the water table has drastically depleted. The village has remained underdeveloped over the years,” he says.
Nothing less than the moon is promised to villagers by companies and politicians, for whom mining is a symbol of progress ushered in to show off in their epitaphs. Murpar is still waiting for a bus stop, school, doctor and medical facilities, good roads and, more importantly, jobs.
Village youths have failed to get jobs in the project. “I have an ITI certificate in electrical trade. I tried thrice to secure a job in Murpar mines but have always been turned down, don’t know why,” says Sachin Chaukhe (26). Another kilometre away is Minzari village. Sundarabai Nannaware (80) says, “My nephew used to harvest bumper crops before the mine came up. Now, the water table in the area is depleting and the yield too has dwindled.”
Abundance of wildlife also results in crop destruction. “But this is a lesser evil. The dense forest ensures ecological balance, but the mines directly impact water, crops and the environment,” says Minzari sarpanch Kavita Nannaware. The loss of this thriving biodiversity is what the country will rue, according to Dhotre and Bhamburkar. “No cost can be pegged nor will any amount of money restore it. It will take years to even assess the entire loss,” they say.