Members of Mahan Sangharsh Samiti registered their protest against the unfair numbering of trees in the forests of Mahan in Singrauli district.
At a public hearing camp at the District Collector’s office in Waidhan, members of Mahan Sangharsh Samiti (MSS) submitted a request petition.
They also met the Nayab Tehsildar of Singrauli and handed over the petition. Members of MSS called this a blatant violation of their rights and have asked authorities to take necessary and prompt action.
The petition chronicles the details of what transpired in Mahan forest on the morning of August 27, 2013. Officials of from forest department and Mahan Coal ltd had started numbering the trees in the forest.
When villagers of Amelia and Budher came to know about it, about 400 of them gathered in the forest to stop the numbering.
The Tehsildar asked them to list their mahua trees, according to which they would be compensated. When the villagers refused, the Tehsildar told them that the villagers did not have any rights on the forest and that the forest was a property of the forest department and the government of India. There is no way in which they could stop the proposed coal mine by Mahan Coal ltd.
“As per the provisions of the Forest Rights Act passed in 2006, communities that have been dependent on the forest for several generations can assert their rights on the forest. Then how can the Tehsildar even say such a thingIJ” demands Ramnath Yadav, resident of Amelia and member of MSS.
“The authorities should first ensure free and fair implementation of the Forest Rights Act and then they can talk about any other activity in the forest,” he further added.