CM’s efforts saved five coal blocks from auction: Cong

The Union government has delisted five coal blocks of Chhattisgarh from a proposed commercial mining auction, the Congress party said on Friday, crediting this to the efforts made by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.

These blocks are Morga 2, Morga South, Madanpur North, Shyang and Fatehpur East.

After the delisting of these five blocks, the Hasdeo catchment area and Mand river catchment area will be saved from the proposed excavation, a Congress statement said.

This will help in the protection of wildlife and natural vegetation in the Hasdeo river catchment area, it said.

The decision has blocked the chances of further displacement of people in these coal bearing areas, the Congress said.

The Chief Minister placed the coal block issue in a highly impressive way before the Central government, said Shailesh Nitin Trivedi, Chairman of the Communication Department of the Chhattisgarh State Congress Committee.

This also reflects the seriousness of the Congress government towards elephant reserves in the state. The earlier Raman Singh-led BJP government did nothing on this score, increasing the man-elephant conflict, Trivedi said.