Thousands of villagers including a large number of women and children from more than 12 villages in the Mahan region of Singrauli came together for a mass public rally in Amelia Village on Thursday to oppose mining in Mahan forests. The rally marks the beginning of a Van Satyagraha.

The rally comes days after Environment Minister Veerappa Moily granted Stage II forest clearance to Mahan coal block, allocated to Mahan Coal ltd– a joint venture of Essar and Hindalco. The villagers declared this clearance, null and void. They presented evidence that the special Gram Sabha resolution on FRA based on which, the Stage II forest clearance has been given was forged.

Member of Mahan Sangharsh Samiti (MSS) filed a police complaint on the forged Gram Sabha resolution after successive attempts to engage the collector and the Minister of Tribal Affairs on this issue.

“Despite receiving threats on our life and our reputation from opposing forces, we are determined to lodge the FIR and take this to a logical end to challenge the validity of the Gram Sabha and the subsequent forest clearance,” said Jag Narayan Shah, addressing the rally.

Members of MSS and their growing number of supporters have been vehemently opposing the mine. Mining in the block would destroy the forests, which is home to several endangered species of animals and 164 species of plants.

There is evidence that Mahan coal block was allocated in the most non-transparent manner. Even Moily’s predecessors have opposed mining in Mahan.

But despite this, an inter-ministerial group (IMG) that was looking into de-allocation of coal blocks that have not commenced mining however gave a clean chit to Mahan coal block, based on the Stage II clearance on February 25, 2014. MSS demands that the Stage II clearance should be revoked with immediate effect. Van Satyagraha will continue until the decision of mining in the forests is rolled back.