The Chhattisgarh Pradesh Congress Committee (CPCC) has launched a scathing attack on the Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Government, accusing it of prioritising the interests of the Adani Group over the State’s natural resources. In a press conference held at the state Congress party office Rajiv Bhawan, Chairman of Communication Department of CPCC, Sushil Anand Shukla, asserted that the BJP Government is facilitating the transfer of water, forest, land, and mineral wealth to the Adani Group. During the press conference, Shukla referenced a statement made by former Congress National President Rahul Gandhi during the Assembly elections, suggesting a close association between the BJP Government and Adani. Shukla claimed that this assertion is now manifesting as reality, with the BJP allegedly initiating deforestation in the Hasdeo Aranya forest area, leading to the felling of over 50,000 trees.

 

Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai has countered these allegations by attributing the tree-cutting orders to the previous Congress Government. However, Shukla contested this, stating that the environmental approval and orders for deforestation were sanctioned by the BJP Government at the Centre. He pointed to a letter from the Additional Secretary of the Forest and Climate Change Department of the Government of Chhattisgarh to the Director General

of Forests, Government of India, dated October 31, 2022, requesting a ban on coal excavation in Parsa Open Cast Coal Mines and the cancellation of the deforestation proposal. The Union Coal Minister, who had come to Raipur had said that where the Coal Bearing Act is applicable the provisions of PESA Act are not applicable there, no one’s objection or consent will make any difference on

coal mining.

 

The previous Congress Government in Chhattisgarh had resolved to cancel the allocation of coal blocks in the forests of Hasdeo Aranya, Tamor Pingla and Elephant Reserve area of Korba by passing a resolution on July 27, 2022 in the Chhattisgarh Assembly against the coal mines allotted by the Central Government in the Lemru Elephant Corridor. However Shukla accused the BJP Government of allowing tree-cutting to benefit Adani. The CPCC’s Communication Department Chairman contended that the recent deforestation in Hasdeo Aranya forest area is indicative of the BJP Government’s intentions and future actions. CPCC In-charge General Secretary Malkit Singh Gaindu, Mahendra Chhabra, Senior State Congress Spokesman Dhananjay Singh Thakur, Senior State Congress Spokesman Surendra Verma, Spokesmen Ajay Gangwani, Rishabh Chandrakar and Matin Khan were present at the press conference.