Jabalpur, Oct 28 (PTI) The Madhya Pradesh High Court has directed a private firm not to commence any diamond mining or construction activities without its explicit permission in Buxwaha sub-division of Chhatarpur forest division in the state.

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A division bench of Chief Justice Ravi Malimath and Justice V K Shukla issued the directives on Tuesday, while hearing two public interest litigations (PILs) challenging the diamond mining lease granted to the firm in 382 hectares of land under Buxwaha sub-division of Chhatarpur forest division.

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A PIL was filed by Nagrik Upbhokta Margdarshak Manch, while another plea was filed by one Ramit Basu, H R Melanta and Pankaj Kumar.

The bench said, “It is brought to our notice that the area for which a letter of intent has been issued by the state comes within the Buxwaha sub-division of Chhatarpur Forest Division."

It further observed that the area falls in the corridor between the Panna Tiger Reserve and the Nauradehi Wildlife Sanctuary.

Noting that there are ancient structures such as rock paintings etc. on the land in question, the court directed the private firm not to commence any mining or construction activities without its permission.

According to the petitioners' counsel Anshuman Singh and Surendra Verma, the plea states that mining activities will damage rock paintings that are around 25,000 years old as per a report by the Archaeological Survey of India.

The PIL also claimed that mining poses a threat to the ecology, given that 2 lakh trees will be axed in the area.

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