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Violence erupted on Thursday in the Hasdeo forest of Chhattisgarh’s Surguja district, as local residents clashed with police over the felling of trees for a coal mining project.
The confrontation, which took place near the villages of Fatehpur and Sali, left several protesters and 13 police personnel injured, including a deputy collector and a revenue department employee.
The protestors had gathered to prevent the cutting of trees for the Parsa coal block project, awarded to the Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited (RRVUNL). According to reports from The Indian Express, approximately 5,000 trees were scheduled to be felled in the vicinity of six villages as part of this mining project.
The protests began on Wednesday night when villagers from these communities assembled at the tree-cutting site, determined to halt the operation. In response, around 400 police and forest department personnel were deployed to the area.
While the police reported that locals were armed with wooden sticks, arrows, and axes, the protesters claimed that the violence began only after the police initiated a lathi charge, a claim denied by the authorities.
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Surguja Superintendent of Police (SP) Yogesh Patel stated that the violence was provoked by the villagers, who attacked the police. “The villagers got violent and attacked us. To stop and disperse them, we responded appropriately,” he said. The SP added, “Our force is present at the site, but tree-cutting has been stopped.”
The incident quickly drew political attention, with Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, condemning the government’s actions. In a strongly worded post on X, he accused the ruling BJP of violating the fundamental rights of the tribals in the Hasdeo region.
“The attempt to forcibly embezzle the forest and land of the tribals through violent use of police force in Hasdeo Aranya is a violation of the fundamental rights of the tribals. During the Congress government in Chhattisgarh, a resolution was unanimously passed in the Assembly not to cut the Hasdeo forest – ‘unanimous’ means the combined consent of the opposition, i.e. the BJP too. But, as soon as they came into government, they neither remembered this proposal nor the plight and rights of these original inhabitants of Hasdeo,” Gandhi wrote.
Adding to the criticism, AICC General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also voiced her support for the protesters, accusing the government of displacing indigenous communities to benefit corporate interests. “The tribals, who have been the owners of the forests for centuries, are being evicted so that Adani ji’s mines can operate,” she said, referring to industrialist Gautam Adani’s interests in the coal mining sector.
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