(a) whether the Government is aware that seventeen reserved forests and one wildlife sanctuary in Tinsukia district of Upper Assam have been plundered by organized coal mafia by clearing the rainforests and indiscriminately practicing of ‘Rat Hole Coal Mining’;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether the Government has taken initiatives to check such illegal coal mining in forest areas by help of technology; and
(d) if so, the details thereof?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT, FOREST AND CLIMATE CHANGE
(SHRI BABUL SUPRIYO)
(a)& (b)As per information received from State Government of Assam, Coal Mining has been going on by the Coal India Limited in Digboi Forest Division of Tinsukia District in Assam.
Illegal coal mining in the form of rat-hole mining has been taking place since long in some of the Reserve Forests (RFs) and Proposed Reserve Forests (PRFs) of Digboi Division. The RFs and PRFs in which such rat-hole mining has been noticed over a period of more than 10 years are as follows:
Sl No Name of the Reserve Forests (RF) Name of the Proposed Reserve Forests (PRF)
1 Namphai Tipong
2 Tinkopani Tirap
3 Tirap Saleki
4 Tipong
5 Lekhapani
This situation aggravated by many factorssuch as extremely difficult terrain, inter-state border issues and hostile nature of offenders.