Maharashtra Environment Minister Aaditya Thackeray on Monday asked the Union government not to go ahead with the proposed auction of coal mine blocks near the Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve.
“I have written to the Union Minister [for Environment, Forest and Climate Change] Prakash Javadekar ji on the issue of the proposed auction of a mine site near Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve, opposing the auction. We cannot have such destruction of our wildlife corridors,” said Mr. Thackeray.
He said the auction has been scrapped after evaluation twice before, once in 1999 and then around 2011. “Then why once again must we waste time and energy over a futile process when we know that it will destroy the wildlife corridor of Tadoba and Andhari?” he asked.
The Sena leader recalled that former Union minister and Congress leader Jairam Ramesh, almost a decade ago, had stopped this destruction. “He had got the area surveyed and reports suggest that the mine site is not suitable at all,” he said.
Last week, 41 coal blocks were notified by the Centre for auction. As per the objections, the Bander coal block in the vicinity of the tiger reserve is likely to impact a few hundred acres of the forest. It also falls on the route used by tigers to travel from the sanctuary in Chandrapur district to forests in Wardha and Amravati districts.
