With a recent Chhattisgarh government decision approving forest clearance for a mining project — that potentially paves the way for the felling of 4.5 lakh trees — the State’s politics has come full circle on the issue of mining in the ecologically sensitive Hasdeo Aranya.
A recommendation letter dated June 26, in which the forest department has approved the proposal for diversion of forest land for non-forestry purposes, coal excavation work in the Kete Extension Coal Block Open Mine Project of the Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam or RNUVL, surfaced online on Monday (August 4, 2025). In the letter uploaded on the government’s PARIVESH website, Forest Department Official from Surguja district Abhishek Jogawat has based the recommendation on a survey done by him.
