Over 46K acres of forest land diverted for mining in 5 years

A whopping 46,759 acres of forest land have been diverted for mining across the country in the last five years. Between April 1, 2019 and March 31 this year, the Environment Ministry gave 179 approvals to 17 states to carry out mining of minerals and coal.

In the northern region of the country, as many as 1,207 acres of forest land were diverted for mining in Rajasthan, followed by 211 acres in Himachal Pradesh and 59 acres in Uttarakhand.

In Rajasthan, four proposals were given to carry out silica and marble mining, whereas in Himachal Pradesh, the four proposals were approved for limestone, gypsum and rock salt mining. In Uttarakhand, two proposals pertaining to mineral mining were okay by the government.

At 18,979 acres, Odisha leads the chart for the amount of land diverted for mining purposes in the last five years, followed by Madhya Pradesh, at 8,417 acres. Recently, the forest advisory committee of Environment Ministry had slapped a fine of Rs 857 crore on the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) for carrying out coal mining in 156 acres of Jharkhand’s forest without getting its approval. The mining destroyed forest area and streams.

Only last month, the National Green Tribunal had sent notice to the Karnataka Government for diverting 4,000 acres of forest land in the last 15 years for mining. The southern state is known for extensive iron ore mining.