Days after Jharkhand government moved the Supreme court, the Chhattisgarh government has raised a red flag to the Centre’s move to make five out of the nine coal blocks in the state available for auction.
The state environment minister has written to Prakash Javadekar, the Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, that the jungles around the coal blocks have been reserved for the Lemru elephant reserve and hence, the coal blocks should be taken off the auction list.
The five coal blocks are located in the Hasdeo Aranya forests and nearby catchment areas of river Mand. The area, rich in biodiversity, was earlier identified as a No-Go area, to preserve the endemic flora and fauna.
