NEW DELHI: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh Wednesday accused the Modi government of violating the Forest Rights Act, 2006 in the Dhirauli coal mining project in Madhya Pradesh’s Singrauli district by rushing ahead with it without the essential legal clearances.
The project, which involves diverting approximately 3,500 acres of forest land, has allegedly begun without necessary Stage-II forest clearance and Gram Sabha consultations.
“The Modi government imposed this allotment from above in 2019 and is now rushing ahead with it in 2025 without the essential legal clearances. This is simply because Modani is a (f)law unto itself,” Ramesh stated.
Ramesh alleged that the project violates the Forest Rights Act, 2006, which mandates the recognition and vesting of forest rights to forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers.
The Congress leader claimed that Gram Sabha consultations, mandatory under the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996, were bypassed, ignoring tribal rights to self-governance.
Ramesh warned that families already displaced by development projects would face eviction again, amounting to double displacement.
The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change has responded to Ramesh’s allegations, claiming that the mining land did not fall under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution and that the required legal process under the Forest Rights Act had been completed. However, Ramesh countered that the coal block lies in a Fifth Schedule Area, where constitutional safeguards protect tribal rights and self-governance.
The project threatens the livelihoods of Adivasi communities, whose sustenance relies on forests for mahua, tendu, medicinal plants, and firewood.
Ramesh emphasized that forests are not just a source of sustenance but are sacred to local Adivasi groups, and compensatory afforestation is a poor ecological substitute. The project affects eight villages, with at least three other villages adjacent to these forests likely to be dependent on them.
Agencies