The Environment Ministry granted environmental clearance for mining in the Kente extension integrated coal block in Chhattisgarh’s Hasdeo-Arand forests on 24 June, allowing production of nine mn t per annum. The decision followed an in-principle forest approval issued on nine June and a sectoral expert appraisal committee recommendation in January 2025. The clearance links forest and environmental approvals for an integrated open cast mining and washery proposal. The Kente extension covers 1,760 hectares in Surguja district and was allotted to Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Ltd in 2015, with the Adani Group appointed as mine developer and operator. Coal from the mine is intended for transport to Rajasthan to feed the Chhabra and Suratgarh power plants. This is the third major coalfield in the Hasdeo forests to receive clearance after Parsa and Parsa East Kente Basan (PEKB). A 2021 biodiversity assessment by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) had advised against further mining apart from the operational PEKB because of likely biodiversity impacts. The Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, with WII, urged strict surface water management and biodiversity safeguards. Official documents state that 1,742.6 hectares of forest land will be diverted and that felling of 0.448 mn trees is proposed in phases linked to coal requirements. In the first five year phase close to 0.098 mn trees are to be felled and nearly 60,000 in the sixth to tenth years, while 67,414 trees below 60 cm girth are to be translocated. The project will affect 56 families in four villages and rehabilitation is to follow the state government approved relief and rehabilitation plan. The Hasdeo-Arand forests are Central India’s green lungs, hosting about 640 plant species and nine schedule-1 wildlife species and supporting an estimated 40 to 50 elephants. The largely unfragmented 1,502 sq km Sal and teak forest provides habitat for leopards and tigers and is a catchment for the Hasdeo river, a tributary of the Mahanadi. Local tribal communities and political opponents have raised concerns about deforestation and biodiversity loss linked to expanded coal mining.