The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has granted clearance for Lloyds Metals and Energy Limited’s iron ore beneficiation plant in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district. A beneficiation plant is a facility where the quality of raw ore is improved by removing impurities. The proposed plant and its allied facilities aim to process low-grade iron ore (hematite quartzite) extracted from the company’s existing mining operations in Surjagarh, a site that has faced operational challenges for years due to opposition from Maoist groups.
The plant is being established in an area where Maoists have been active for years. The in-principle approval for the iron ore project in the Maoist-affected area will lead to the diversion of 937 hectares of forest land and will result in the felling of approximately 1.23 lakh trees, according to information from the ministry. However, this forest clearance for the proposed iron ore plant is another step that the Maharashtra government is taking to expand mining and industrial activity in the district affected by Left-Wing Extremism (LWE). The district holds deposits of iron ore, limestone, and diamonds, which can be commercially exploited if the state chooses to do so.
To facilitate this development, the Maharashtra Cabinet approved the establishment of a Gadchiroli District Mining Authority last month. The authority will be chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and will oversee the management of major and minor minerals within the state of Maharashtra.
Clearance History
The company was initially granted a 348-hectare mining lease for a period of 20 years in 2007, which was later extended until May 2057, as per the company’s documents submitted to the central government. The conditional in-principle approval was granted on May 12, following recommendations from the ministry’s Forest Advisory Committee (FAC), which is responsible for scrutinizing proposals seeking forest clearances, especially in densely forested areas. The minutes of the FAC meeting indicate that compensation for forest diversion of over 900 hectares has been proposed in Chiplun, Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra.
In 2021, after intelligence on Maoist commander Hidma’s presence, an operation was launched involving 540 CRPF and CoBRA commandos, 250 DRG and STF personnel, along with contingents of auxiliary forces. However, the operation turned out to be a failure, as security forces realized they had walked into a trap, with Hidma’s battalion killing 22 soldiers with LMG fire from a hill. In the Karregutta Hill encounter of April-May 2025, a total of 25,000 personnel joined an operation that ran for almost three weeks and was described as the biggest anti-Maoist action taken in decades. Thirty-one Maoists were killed in the operation, but Hidma remained elusive.
Former chief of Andhra Pradesh’s elite anti-Maoist commando unit Greyhounds, K Durga Prasad, believes that the key lies in the arrest or killing of Hidma. Durga, who retired as the Director General of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), told national media that, “The killing of Basava Raju is significant, but if they kill Hidma, the cadre will be completely demoralized. He is their sharpest military commander; as long as he is there, they will sustain.”
Durga also suggested that a simultaneous rollout of a robust scheme is required for tackling Maoists in the area.
“The government should also simultaneously roll out an attractive surrender and rehabilitation policy. Once Hidma is out of the way, such a policy will attract both the cadre and leadership, and the CPI Maoist will be finished. They haven’t been getting new leaders for two decades now and have begun to struggle to get fresh recruits as well. The ideology no longer attracts the youth, and their resources have depleted considerably,” Durga said.
Meanwhile, RK Vij, the former chief of anti-Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh, says that even Hidma is not in prime health. “Hidma is only a military commander. They will never elevate him to a political leader. It was because of the narrative that they do not let locals rise that they made him chief commander of the South Bureau. Despite being a very capable military commander, he is not in good shape. He is said to have suffered some paralytic attack in the recent past,” Vij noted.
These developments underscore the complex interplay between industrial expansion and security challenges in regions affected by insurgency.
