Bander coal block poses a potential threat to the Tiger population in Tadoba

-Nikhil Borkar 

Chandrapur: The Bander coal block situated near the Navegaon and Kolara gates of the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in Chandrapur district of Maharashtra can have a disastrous impact on Tigers and other wildlife animals if commercial mining kickstarts on the proposed site. 

The Bander coal block comes under the Chimur tehsil of Chandrapur district, which has a considerable tiger population, many of which are breeding age. After the Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the process of auctioning 41 coal blocks for commercial use inviting private sector participation on Thursday, many environmentalists staged a protest on Saturday in the district for including Bander coal block in the auction list.

Bandu Dhotre, President of a non-governmental organisation (NGO) Eco-Pro, while explaining the Bander coal block, told Indie Journal that the proposed Bander coal block can highly disturb the functional corridor of tigers, connecting Tadoba to Bor in Wardha and Melghat in Amravati.

“If the tigers' corridor gets disturbed due to the mining project, it will lead to more man-animal conflicts in the area and can have a disastrous impact on the tiger population too,” said Dhotre.

Habitat shrinking: ‘Save Tiger Save Forest’

According to Dhotre, the big cats have so far killed 75 people in the district in the last 10 years, and major deaths have happened in the buffer zone area where the Bander coal block is located. Therefore, saving the lives of human beings, animals, and saving our environment and forest should be a first priority for the government. When the area has already been notified into the ‘no-go’ zone, why has the Union Government put the Bander coal block in the auction list, he questions.

‘No-go’ to ‘Go’ zone

In 1999, the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MOEF) rejected a proposal for mining in the area citing its adverse impact on the wildlife of Tadoba, especially on tigers. However in 2009-10, these blocks were allotted to the Bander Coal Company Private Limited (BCCPL) Mumbai, and they were to extract 175.110 million tonnes of coal through opencast and underground mining.

But the permission was rejected again as the TATR and a forest division official had not given a go-ahead report for the project. As per the earlier reports, the site is not good for the mining projects, which might degrade forest land and cause several other problems. Thereafter, the then Environment Minister in the Union Government Jairam Ramesh had proposed ‘go’ and ‘no-go’ classification of coal blocks, In the ‘no-go’ zone classification, under any circumstances, there cannot be any kind of mining activity. Bander coal block was one of them which was notified in the ‘no-go’ zone classification. 

What if mining is allowed in the TATR?

Around 1,200 hectares of rich forest land will have to be diverted for mining, in which important routes used by tigers for the movement will get disturbed. Around five villages will have to be displaced, and the important northern bottleneck will be degraded. 

The TATR has around 1727.5911 sq.kms area, and according to the 2010 tiger census, out of the 312 tigers population in Maharashtra, 160 tigers are in TATR. Therefore, tigers will be affected the worst if this project gets clearance.

When the government has once again put this block for auctioning, ignoring the ecological sensitivity of the TATR, many have been demanding to cancel the auctioning of Bander coal block to save tigers and forest of TATR from further degradation.