NAGPUR: Three years after Adani Power Ltd (APL) proposal for coal mining was rejected in Lohara west and Lohara extension near Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) in Chandrapur, the power major is back in action. It is seeking environment clearance to its mining plan with slightly changed boundaries. It would still entail loss of over 1400 hectares of forests which is equivalent to 1300 football fields. Papers in possession of TOI show that on April 7, 2012, APL through Santosh Kumar Singh, general manager (corporate environment group), submitted a revised proposal to the state nodal officer proposing to reduce the area of Lohara coal blocks by removing compartment numbers 389 (379 hectares) and 390 (221 hectares) in Mamla under the FDCM. Both are in buffer zone of TATR. Earlier, Adani was allocated Lohara west and Lohara extension coal blocks in Wardha valley coalfield in November 2007 to meet fuel requirement of Tiroda power project in Gondia district about 160 kms from the site. In November 2009, a high-level panel of ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) backed by then in charge minister Jairam Ramesh had rejected the proposal saying the mining project was within the buffer zone of TATR and the area was part of the tiger corridor. A five-member committee has been set up to examine Adani's revised proposal. The panel is headed by CCF (territoral), Chandrapur, while CCF of TATR, general manager of FDCM (North Chandrapur), deputy conservators of Chandrapur and Brahmapuri are members. The committee has been asked to submit a report whether the revised proposal will affect wildlife, its corridors and TATR. Ramesh also suggested that MoEF and ministry of coal (MoC) must work in tandem to identify 'Go' and 'No-Go' zones. The proponents were asked to meet the deficit in coal requirement by importing coal or from other coal blocks. However, after change of guard in the MoEF, Adani again wants to enter area known for rich wildlife presence. Recently, coal minister Shriprakash Jaiswal had also said that environment clearances had become easier after Ramesh's exit. In an MoC meeting on January 11 & 12, 2012, 195 coal block allottees under 'Go' and 'No Go' zones were advised to pursue forest clearances afresh. Accordingly, APL has begun fresh bid for Lohara blocks. Work on company's 3300MW power project in Tiroda is in full swing. It is being implemented in two phases. The Phase I (1320MW) is planned to be commissioned in 2012 while Phase II (1980mw) is slated to be completed in 2012-2017. "The company has sent an urgent request to the MoC to convince the MoEF to grant environment and forest clearance with redefined boundary of Lohara west and Lohara extension," senior forest officials told TOI. The original proposal needed diversion of 1,750 hectares land of which 1,600 hectares was forest land. In revised plan, 1,550 hectare land is needed of which 1,402 hectares is forest land. However, deleting two compartments will not reduce threat to TATR and dispersing tigers. Vishwas Karanjgaokar, public relations officer (PRO) for corporate affairs, Adani Enterprises Ltd, said the company will submit an entirely new proposal by conducting a fresh survey of flora and fauna in the affected area. However, Bandu Dhotre, chief of Eco-Pro, Chandrapur, who had launched a 14-day hunger strike in 2009 against proposed coal mines in Lohara warned of a renewed struggle. "The Adani mines in Lohara will lead to loss of over 13 lakh trees, apart from losing tiger corridor towards south-east. What is need to re-allot these coal blocks which have already been rejected earlier by the MoEF to firms like ACC and Nippon in 1998 and again to Adani in 2009," Dhotre asked.

Tiger activist Bandu Dhotre ended his 10-day hunger strike on Wednesday after the state government “accepted” to “immediately” implement the measures he demanded. Dhotre, however, expressed discontent over Forest Minister Patangrao Kadam not sending him the minutes of the meeting held in Mumbai on Tuesday. “It would have been better had the minutes been sent. They said they would give them yesterday, but they didn’t. Principal Secretary Pravin Pardeshi said the papers were on the Minister’s table and that he was busy with Assembly session, because of which it was getting delayed,” Dhotre told The Indian Express. Dhotre’s supporters had organised a victory rally on Wednesday evening. However, the activists’ celebratory mood was dampened because they had not received the minutes of the meeting. Said activist Swanand Soni: “We decided to end the stir by investing faith in the government. Ideally, we should have been give the minutes.” Soni and senior journalist-turned-activist Shyam Pandharipande had met Kadam in Mumbai on the Minister’s invitation after the activists decided to go ahead with their stir when earlier round of talks with Pardeshi “failed”. Then too, the displeasure was about not being given the minutes of a time-bound follow-up of the demands. Asked if he was satisfied, Dhotre said, “I am satisfied. Particularly about the decision to implement wildlife management plan in the areas controlled by Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM) that cares little for wildlife. The plan has to be submitted within a week.” Among those who attended the rally on Wednesday were senior activists Shrinivas Khandewale and Umesh Choube, senior BJP leader Banwarilal Purohit, Collector Saurabh Rao and Principal Chief Conservator of Forest (Wildlife) S W H Naqvi.

NAGPUR: Green activist Bandu Dhotre ended his fast on Wednesday evening in what came to be described as the 'victory festival' by the leaders present on the occasion. The atmosphere at the site was indeed festive with environmentalists exchanging smiles and shouts of victory reverberating in the air. The soothing sound of a flute rendering the music of 'Sare jahan se accha' and the 'Jungle ka raja' song in the end proved to be the perfect mood setters for the evening. Fittingly, Dhotre took a sip of juice from a glass offered by two volunteers dressed as tigers to end his fast. District collector Saurabh Rao, eminent economist Shrinivas Khandewale, social activist Umesh Choubey, former MP Banwarilal Purohit and PCCF (wildlife) SWH Naqvi were present during the small ceremony held to mark the end of the fast. While addressing the gathering, Dhotre said that this was not an end, but the beginning of a new journey towards conservation. "I am thankful for the kind of support I received and which has led this agitation to its success," said Dhotre. In breaking his fast, Dhotre was joined by Jitendra Walke who had been fasting in Chandrapur and who had come down to Nagpur earlier on Wednesday. "Apart from the fact that the government has agreed to all our demands, what stands out as an achievement in the wake of this agitation is that all the ministers from Vidarbha stood together and put forth these demands to the cabinet," said Swanand Soni of Srushti Paryavaran Sanstha. Purohit hailed Dhotre for daring to put his life at stake for tiger conservation while Khandewale called this the beginning of a new age. "This victory marks the start of the formation of an eco-friendly society. This is a joint victory of the NGOs and the government and conservation is going to be benefited by it," Khandewale said.

NAGPUR: The indefinite fast launched by wildlife activist Bandu Dhotre to save tigers entered the second day and is gaining wide support from NGOs and political leaders. On Tuesday, Vidarbha Economic Development (VED) Council, Friends of Tiger Country Central India (FTCCI), Greenpeace and India Against Corruption (IAC) announced their support to the issues raised by Dhotre. Plans are now afoot to bring chief minister Prithviraj Chavan to the pandal site when he will be in the city to review various projects. The IAC volunteers took out a rally from Law College Square to declare support to Dhotre's fast. "It is indeed a matter of shame that Dhotre has to resort to a fast to draw attention and get some action from the state government to save tigers," said Devendra Parekh, president, VED. Incidents of tiger poaching in the buffer zone of Tadoba-Andhari Tiger Reserve (TATR) led seemingly shocked forest minister Patangrao Kadam to issue 'shoot-at-sight' orders but such reactions and emotional outbursts yield no comprehensive results as the follow up is extremely poor, he added. "The need of the hour is a comprehensive policy initiatives that will ensure protection of tigers vis-a-vis their habitat for all times to come," said Parekh. On Tuesday, as Dhotre's fast entered the second day, several local leaders including Shiv Sena MLA from Ramtek Ashish Jaiswal and Nationalist Youth Congress leader Salil Deshmukh visited Dhotre to express solidarity. Deshmukh said his NGO Koshish fully supports Dhotre. Several forest officials from Chandrapur including TATR field director Virendra Tiwari and deputy conservators (DyCFs) M M Kulkarni and P Kalyan Kumar also visited the pandal opposite PWD Sankul in Civil Lines, where Dhotre is fasting. According to sources, forest officials are discussing the 16 demands raised by Dhotre. Of these, several demands like rescue centre at Chandrapur, secret funds, appointing van patils, reorganizing forest beats, restricting resorts near tiger reserves etc have already been accepted but no action has been taken on them. VED and FTsaid the government was aware of all the studied observations on the tiger situation at ground level and needed to take drastic changes at the policy level. While TATR is one of the best tiger reserves in India, it might lose the coveted status if the tiger protection perspective and action remained flawed. It is not appreciated that tigers in Chandrapur face grave danger because most of the core area outside TATR is under the control of Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM) for whom tiger protection is not the priority. "The remedy therefore is to treat the area adjoining TATR at par with the tiger reserve," said Parekh. VED appealed to the forest minister Kadam and forest secretary Praveen Pardeshi to convene a meeting on Dhotre's demands and give a written commitment and time-bound action plan.

NAGPUR: Wildlife activist Bandu Dhotre's indefinite fast demanding better protection for tigers in the wild is likely to continue as talks between a four-member team from Nagpur and principal secretary (forests) Praveen Pardeshi failed to make headway on Friday. Pardeshi had called volunteers of Eco-Pro to Mumbai on Thursday to discuss Dhotre's demands. The team consisting of senior journalist Shyam Pandharipande, Bombay Natural History Society's ( BNHS) Sanjay Karkare, Srushti Paryavaran Mandal's Swanand Soni and Eco-Pro's Dhirendra Mulkalwar held talks with Pardeshi but no promise on them was forthcoming from government. After the talks, team was handed over a letter signed by joint secretary Vivek Khandekar stating the demands raised by Eco-Pro were positive and the government will certainly take note of them. "With your cooperation, we would effectively protect wildlife," the letter stated. On the main demand of merging area under FDCM in Chandrapur with territorial divisions and form a wildlife circle, Pardeshi said this was not right. He offered that FDCM operations could be restricted in buffer areas. Already there was opposition to tigers in buffer. Merging vast areas for wildlife would invite more local resentment and would actually work against protection, he said. Pardeshi agreed to declaring Chandrapur tiger district. He said setting up a rescue centre in Chandrapur using CAMPA funds could be considered. The proposal of 'van patils' has been forwarded to finance department. On intelligence gathering, Pardeshi said steps were being taken. He said granting legal status to wildlife corridors was impossible but they could considered as eco-sensitive zones to save them from detrimental projects. On shifting of resorts outside the buffer, Pardeshi said buffer area was dominated by private land where government doesn't have control but resorts won't be allowed in sensitive areas. Instead, homesteads will be promoted in a big way. "Pardeshi discussed all demands but nothing has been given in writing. The letter is also not addressed to Dhotre. Under such circumstances it will be difficult to call off the fast," said Pandharipande who led the team. Meanwhile, Dhotre's fast entered sixth day and his sugar level has gone down. Support for him remains strong. On Friday, guardian minister Shivajirao Moghe, BJP MLAs from Nana Shyamkule and Atul Deshkar visited Dhotre. Deshkar told TOI the forest department was not prepared to handle wildlife exigencies. The demands for reorganization, better protection, corridor conservation weregenuine. "I'll meet forest secretary on Monday to press for the demands raised by Dhotre," he added.