By IANS,
New Delhi : Greenpeace Thursday demanded a moratorium on all new coal mining in Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh, until a proper impact assessment was done in the area.
“Singrauli has been scarred by environmental and human rights violations. Our report uncovers the dirt and destruction in the power capital of the country,” Priya Pillai from Greenpace said.
It said entire communities were living in the shadow of coal mine overburdens, with coal dust everywhere.
“They gave up their land for power that doesn’t reach them, and now have no reliable livelihood and their health has been ruined. This cannot be called development.
“We cannot continue to ignore the impacts of such large scale ravaging of the land and people without addressing their rights and imposing limits on the environmental degradation we are causing.”
The findings of the mission are crucial especially in the context of forest blocks being allotted and given fast track approval for coal mining through the Group of Ministers (GoM).
Officially, 5,872.18 hectares of forest from Singrauli region have been diverted for non-forest use since the Forest Conservation Act came into force in 1980.