NGO?s ?premature? plea against mine near Tadoba withdrawn

NGO Prithvi Mitra Bahuudeshiya Sanstha (PMBS), which had challenged the primary approval granted by the ministry of environment, forest and climate change (MoEFCC) to the Durgapur deep extension coal mine of Western Coalfield Limited (WCL) in Chandrapur, withdrew its petition from the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Friday. The NGO said the petition has been moved at premature stage of project clearance. The tribunal, however, obtained a written undertaking from WCL that it will not initiate any construction work on the proposed site till its project is approved by the state government.
MoEFCC has given stage-I (section-1) clearance to use of 121.58 ha of tiger bearing forest area for the expansion project of Durgapur deep coal mine. The site is located mere 1.2km from the south-west boundary of Tadoba Andhari Tiger Reserve buffer area. This land is an important wildlife corridor and the impact area of mine has the presence of at least seven tigers, five leopards, eight bears, 38 spotted deers, 35 blue bull, 12 Indian gaur, 10 barking deer and many more wild animals. As many as 13,457 big trees and 64,349 bamboo will have to be chopped down to clear the forest area for this expansion project.
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