Lakhs Of Trees To Be Felled In Odisha For Talabira Mining Project

Bhubaneswar: While environmentally sustainable development has been the overarching agenda of policymakers, the proposal to cut lakhs of tress for Talabira mining project in Odisha has drawn sharp criticism.

Though the villages in the region are reportedly against mining in Talabira, the government has allegedly gone ahead with the project without the consent of the locals.

The Palli Sabha (Gram Sabha) in the region had reportedly rejected the proposal to use the forest land for mining on June 12, 2012. However, a fake report was allegedly published just after one month on July 12, 2012 claiming acquisition of the Talabira village with rehabilitation and resettlement of the villagers.

As per the alleged fake Palli Sabha report, the rehabilitation site was at Dhubenchapal village and the displaced villagers above 18 years of age would be provided jobs.

"While they are claiming that there are only 1.5 lakh tress in the forest, it's actually around 3 lakh. Though the gram sabha has rejected the proposal of felling of tress and said that mining will not be allowed in the region, permission has been given for the felling of trees after one month of the Palli Sabha's decision," said environmentalist, Prafulla Samantaray.

Sarpanch of Khunta panchayat, Nilabati Oram said, "The government has not taken any permission from us for cutting of trees for mining operations in the region. They are claiming to have received the consent, but there is no such record in our panchayat."

Locals also alleged that the government has not made any provisions for the rehabilitation of the people who are dependent on the forest for their livelihood.

Meanwhile, the Forest department has said that the permission for the felling of trees has been given only after taking into consideration a 42-point charter of demands of the locals and with the condition that double the number of trees felled will be planted in the region.

"Of the 42 conditions that the State government has agreed to, catchment area treatment, wildlife plan, and plantation of 25.7 lakh trees in future are among others," said Sanjeev Kumar, an official of the Sambalpur forest division.

On the other hand, the project chief of NLC, Suresh Chandra Suman said, "We had received a permission to cut 17,000 trees of which 14,600 trees have been felled so far, while transplantation of 27,000 trees will be done. For the entire project, around 1.35 lakh trees will be felled in the next 34 years."

Apart from the Talabira 2 and 3 mining projects, a 3200 mega watt electricity plant will also be reportedly set up in the region.