Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched the auction of 41 coal mines for commercial mining, saying the market for the commodity is now open and the sales will help turn the Covid-19 crisis into an opportunity.
But the list of 41 mines showed several are located in biodiversity-rich forest areas in central India, including a few in one of the largest contiguous stretches of dense forest called Hasdeo Arand that spans 170,000 hectares.
Brief descriptions of the mines up for auction on the website of state-run MSTC Limited showed several do not have the required forest clearance and are located amid protected forests.
Madanpur North in Chhattisgarh, for example, has a total area of 21 sq km, of which 19 sq km is forest area. The area is the drainage for several streams that join Hasdeo river. The mine is awaiting forest and environmental clearance.
