Residents of Amelia village say their signatures were forged to show they had given consent to mining project of Hindalco and Essar
.jpg "People who have organised themselves under Mahan Sangharsh Samiti say livelihood of 50,000 people are at stake (Photo courtesy Greenpeace India)")
After more than a year since Amelia village in the coal-rich Singrauli district in Madhya Pradesh passed a contentious resolution, allowing a coal mining project, the local police have started probing the matter. Amelia residents have alleged the gram panchayat took bribes from companies and forged signatures to show that the village consented to the mining project in Mahan reserve forest.
The coal mining project, jointly developed by aluminium manufacturer, Hindalco and steel manufacturer, Essar, has been controversial right from the beginning. The residents of Amelia, who have now formed an organization to oppose the mining project—Mahan Sangharsh Samiti (MSS)—filed a writ petition in the Jabalpur High Court in March 2014 along with non-profit Greenpeace. The petition states that the gram sabha resolution in question is a forged document that was created to give a go-ahead to the mine in Mahan forests.
Dead persons revived on paper
On March 6, 2013, a special Gram Sabha was called under the Forest Rights Act to give a go-ahead to the coal mine. Though the Gram Sabha was attended by only 182 people, a copy of the resolution acquired through Right to Information (RTI) has 1,125 signatures. The residents say that they have evidence that most of the signatures in the resolution have been forged.
“The document even contains names of people, who have been dead for a long time,” states the petition. On June 30, the high court ordered the Singrauli district superintendent of police to conduct an enquiry within seven days.
Singrauli police told Down To Earth that the enquiry is still in progress and that they did not receive the court orders on June 30. “We are conducting the enquiry in the allegations of a forged gram sabha resolution. If we are satisfied that the complaint has been forged, we will file an FIR against the accused persons,” said a senior police official from Waidhan, district headquarter of Singrauli. The court order has asked the police to submit the report within 30 days.
On February 12, this year, the environment ministry then headed by Veerappa Moily had granted stage II forest clearance on the basis of the said gram sabha resolution. The Mahan coal block was initially rejected by former environment minister, Jairam Ramesh. However, it was granted in-principle (stage I) approval by the ministry on October 30, 2012, after pressure from the Group of Ministers (GoM) on coal mining. This approval came with 36 conditions, which require a range of studies to be completed and the processes under the Forest Rights Act to be complied with.
According to a release by Greenpeace, mining will destroy the livelihoods of over 50,000 people. Mining in Mahan would mean opening doors for other coal blocks like Chattrasal awaiting approvals in the Mahan forests, which will further fragment the entire forests in the region.
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