The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has granted in-principle forest clearance for Lloyd Metals and Energy Limited’s iron ore beneficiation plant, a facility that improves the quality of raw ore by removing impurities, in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district where Maoists have been active for years.
This in-principle approval paves the way for the diversion of 937 hectares of forest land and the felling of 1.23 lakh trees, according to Ministry documents.
The forest clearance for the proposed plant comes amid the Maharashtra government’s push to expand mining and industrial activity in the district affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE).
Last month, the Maharashtra cabinet approved the establishment of a Gadchiroli District Mining Authority, chaired by Chief Minister , for the management of major and minor minerals. The district holds deposits of iron ore, limestone and diamonds.
The beneficiation plant and allied facilities have been proposed to process low-grade iron ore (hematite quartzite) extracted from the company’s existing mining operations in Surjagarh, which faced operational hurdles for many years due to opposition from Maoists to any activity in the area.
The mining lease, spread over 348 hectares, was initially granted to the company for 20 years in 2007 and was later extended until May 2057, according to company documents submitted to the Centre.
The conditional in-principle approval was granted on May 12, following a recommendation of the Ministry’s forest advisory committee (FAC), which scrutinises proposals seeking forest clearances. The minutes of the FAC meeting show that compensatory afforestation for diversion of over 900 hectares of forest land has been proposed in Chiplun, Ratnagiri district on Maharashtra’s coast.
One of the key conditions laid down is that the forest land has to be strictly used in a phased and regulated manner to “ensure environmental responsibility and sustainable development”. The 937 hectares has to be used in three phases with 300 hectares in the first phase, 200 hectares in the second phase, after compliance of the first phase.
Use of the balance 237.077 hectares shall be permitted only if there is successful implementation and review of earlier phases, and after full utilisation of land.
The Ministry has also directed the company to seek approval from the standing committee of the National Board for Wildlife, as a portion of the project area falls within a tiger corridor that aids migration of tigers between Tadoba Tiger Reserve and Indravati Tiger Reserve.
Though the company received the mining lease in 2007, mining operations commenced only in 2016, but had to be halted as it was targeted by Maoists. It also faced protests and agitations from tribal communities over issues of tribal and forest rights.
In December 2016, Maoists torched 69 trucks and three earth movers at the Surjagarh mine in Gadchiroli – one of the biggest arson attacks by Maoists in the region. Before the 2016 violence, Jaspal Singh Dhillon, vice president of Lloyd Steel, was shot dead, allegedly by Maoists.
Maoist insurgency in Gadchiroli has been ebbing gradually owing to operations of the state’s elite anti-Naxal commando force C60 as well as operations of the Central forces.
Chief Minister Fadnavis spent the first day of the year in Gadchiroli, where 11 Maoists surrendered before him and he also inaugurated a 32-km long state transport bus service.
Fadnavis also laid the foundation stone for a Lloyds industrial plant, a hospital, and a school and proclaimed that North Gadchiroli was Naxal-free and soon, South Gadchiroli, too, would be free of it.
Nikhil joined The Indian Express in 2024. Originally from Mumbai, he has worked in publications such as Tehelka, Hindustan Times, DNA Newspaper, News18 and Indiaspend. In the past 14 years, he has written on a range of subjects such as sports, current affairs, civic issues, city centric environment news, central government policies and politics.
