Despite being rejected twice, Centre and state kept Bander auction move alive

Nagpur: Far from being a sudden development, the move to auction Bander coal block near Tadoba appears in the making for months. Despite being rejected twice, Centre kept the issue alive even after a decade by seeking NOC from gram panchayats.
On May 29, 2009, these blocks were allotted to Bander Coal Company Pvt Ltd (BCCPL), Mumbai, a joint venture of Amar Iron & Steel, Yavatmal; Century Textiles Industries, Mumbai; and JK Cements Ltd , Kanpur.The blocks were rejected twice - once in 1999 and then again in 2011.
Still, the district administration wrote to five gram panchayats in January 2020 seeking a report on forest land allotted to tribals under the Forest Rights Act, 2006. These gram panchayats are Shivapur (Bander), Shedegaon, Amarpuri, Majri Begde and Gadgaon.
Over 1,170 hectare forest land will be diverted for mining in Bander. Chandrapur district collector on November 5, 2019, had sought report from gram panchayats ensuring compliance of Forest Rights Act (FRA) before diverting the forest land in Bander for coal mining. Collector Kunal Khemnar was not available for comments.
Even as district collector has kept the 2009 process alive by ensuring compliance of FRA, BJP government at the Centre again put the blocks for auction on June 18, 2020, causing a flutter.
SDO Prakash Shankpal said, “As 1,170.16 hectare forest land is proposed to be diverted for non-forestry purpose for Bander mines, I sought report from these gram panchayats. However, these GPs have not responded yet. A reminder will be sent to them soon to know their views.”
Shivapur (Bander) sarpanch Shribhrosh Dhok said, “The gram panchayat received SDO’s letter in February. We are yet to respond as our role is secondary, especially when 80% of the mining area lies in forest and 20% is non-forest. Most villagers are also against coal mines. Hence, we are not in a hurry to pass any resolution.”
“SDO and collector’s letter clearly shows how the government functions. The right hand doesn’t know what left is doing. When the mine proposal was rejected a decade ago, how could the blocks be released again for auction,” questioned Bandu Dhotre, president of NGO Eco-Pro, Chandrapur.
“The Centre somehow wants to keep the issue alive. It seems to be a well-planned strategy to push mining around Tadoba. Allowing Bander would mean paving way for rejected Lohara (east & west) coal blocks in the tiger corridor south of Tadoba,” said Suresh Chopne, president of Green Planet Society, Chandrapur.
The society has already written to environment, coal and steel ministers to scrap the auction process for Bander, which was among 41 coal blocks released for auction.