Tara Coal Block: Centre Says State Cleared Inclusion as Congress Alleges 'Ecocide'

A day after the Congress accused the Narendra Modi government of "ecocide" over the auction of the Tara coal block in Chhattisgarh's Hasdeo-Aranya region, the Union Coal Ministry and the State's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) issued separate clarifications on Friday.

The Coal Ministry said the Tara block was included in the auction process only after its boundaries were revised. The Chhattisgarh BJP said the Congress should first answer for its own decisions on the block while it was in power at the Centre and in the State.

On Thursday, Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh alleged that mining at Tara could destroy over 4,000 acres of dense forest and more than 10 lakh trees. He noted that the Chhattisgarh Assembly had unanimously opposed new coal blocks in Hasdeo-Aranya in 2022, and that the State government, then led by Congress Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, had told the Supreme Court in 2023 that no new mines were needed. He also warned that mining could disrupt elephant corridors in the Lemru Elephant Reserve and threaten endangered species.

In its statement, the Coal Ministry acknowledged that the Tara block, first offered in 2023, was withdrawn from the commercial coal mine auction after the Chhattisgarh government asked for the exclusion of coal blocks located in the Hasdeo-Arand area. Blocks falling within the Lemru Elephant Corridor were therefore not offered in later phases of the auction.

The Ministry said it received a letter from the Chhattisgarh government on December 11, 2025, stating that "this coal block lies outside the Lemru Elephant Corridor and can be offered in the next phase of the auction".

Later in the evening, senior BJP leader and Chairman of the Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation (CMDC) Saurabh Singh said it was the Congress that had paved the way for mining there and advanced the forest clearance process. He said Mr. Baghel had, in June 2021, formally written to the Union Coal Minister requesting that the Tara block be allotted to the CMDC. A BJP press release attributed to Mr. Singh did not mention the Congress government's revised position in 2023 or the 2022 Assembly resolution.

Mr. Singh also said the path for mining in the Hasdeo-Arand region was cleared during the tenure of the then United Progressive Alliance government. He claimed that although the Forest Advisory Committee did not recommend the Tara and Parsa East and Kete Basan (PEKB) projects, the then Union Minister for Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh, granted clearance to both, with Stage-I forest clearance for the Tara project given on June 23, 2011.

He said mining operations would begin only after all necessary statutory and environmental clearances, including forest approval, and stipulated conditions are met. He rejected the Congress's claim of over a million trees being felled as a lie, and said a rough estimate suggested barely one-tenth of that number would be cut, in phases.

Mr. Ramesh has said no amount of compensatory afforestation can make up for the destruction of such a large natural forest area.

The dispute centres on Hasdeo-Aranya, one of central India's largest remaining sal forests and a passage for elephants moving between Chhattisgarh and neighbouring States. Any decision on the block involves weighing energy needs against forest and wildlife protection, a balance that has been contested across successive governments at the Centre and in the State.