After opposition from Maharashtra Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray, the central government has withdrawn the Bander coal mining site from the auction list of 41 coal blocks. The Narendra Modi government had put up the coal mine in Bandar near Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra for auction.
However, after Aaditya wrote to Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar opposing the move, the Ministry of coal dropped the Bander coal block from the auction list. Thackeray had labelled the auction as destruction of the wildlife corridor and said that this will harm the tiger reserve.
In the notification, the coal ministry highlighted that the Bander coal mine part a part of the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve and declared the area as eco-sensitive zone. This come a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the auction process for coal blocks across the country for commercial mining.
As this happened, Aaditya took to Twitter to welcome the move and expressed his pleasure over the central government’s decision to drop the Bander coal mine from the auction list. “Happy to note that the eco-sensitive region of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve was dropped from the list,” he said.
The decision was further praised by Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray who said that the Bander area which is a part of the tiger reserve and a vital wildlife corridor will remain untouched.
“Heartening to note that after taking cognisance of our Government’s request, Bander area, part of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve & a vital wildlife corridor will remain untouched, as Coal Ministry has issued notification to drop Bander Coal Mine from auction list of 41 coal blocks (sic),” CMO Maharashtra tweeted.
Heartening to note that after taking cognisance of our Government’s request, Bander area, part of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve & a vital wildlife corridor will remain untouched, as Coal Ministry has issued notification to drop Bander Coal Mine from auction list of 41 coal blocks. https://t.co/3XJzQThv6n
— CMO Maharashtra (@CMOMaharashtra) July 24, 2020
Earlier, Former Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh had also written to Javadekar saying that the coalfield which falls under “no go” area should never be considered for mining under any circumstances.
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