4,500 Trees to be Felled in Barabani Block for Coal Mine

ASANSOL: Open-cast coal mines will be developed in Gaurandi, Dighal Pahari, and Daskeri areas of Panuria panchayat in Barabani block. For this, the felling of 4,500 trees standing on forest land will begin next month. The forest department has handed over this land to the West Bengal State Mineral Development Corporation. To protect the environment, it has been decided to plant trees on land in the Birbhum district. Environmentalists active in the Asansol-Durgapur industrial area have raised questions over the entire development. They claim that mining is being carried out by destroying forests. Therefore, to maintain environmental balance, new forests should be created within the Asansol subdivision itself. Trees in about 115 hectares of forest in Dighal Pahari will be cut down to build the coal mine. According to Durgapur DFO Anupam Khan, the forest area has been handed over to the Mineral Development Corporation, and land has been received in return to create a new forest. 4,500 trees will have to be cut for the mine. For the new forest, 100 acres of land in Birbhum district and 15 hectares in Paschim Bardhaman district have been acquired. According to Prasun Roy, a member of the district editorial board of Paschim Banga Vigyan Mancha, forests are being cut in Paschim Bardhaman district. Cutting a large number of trees will harm people and wild animals. New forests should be created in the same district, and they will participate in a movement demanding this. Environmental activist and former professor Arup Ghosh supports the government decision. According to him, the carbon generated by cutting forests in any area is not confined to that place alone; it spreads everywhere. Therefore, this initiative to increase oxygen levels by creating new forests in any area is a completely scientific plan. There is nothing wrong with the government's initiative to cut forests in Paschim Bardhaman district and create new ones in Birbhum.