12th February, New Delhi: Essar Energy has announced that it has received Stage II clearance for its Mahan coal block in Singrauli, even before any announcement was made by the Ministry of Environment and Forests. Reacting to the news, Priya Pillai of Greenpeace said, "As feared, Mr. Moily continues to extend hasty clearances to projects that will strip thousands of their livelihoods and only source of survival. Despite clear evidence of violations of the Forest Rights Act and other mandatory conditions, Mr. Moily has pushed through Stage II clearance for the Mahan coal block. This project involves the loss of over 500,000 trees and will impact over thousands of people in 54 villages. Mr. Moily has ridden roughshod over the concerns raised by the Minister of Tribal Affairs KC Deo, begging the question - does this government really care about either forest dwellers or the environment?"
Speaking from Mahan, Kripanath Yadav from the MSS said, "We are dismayed by this decision as this project is a direct threat to our lives. Thousands of us depend on these forests. We will continue to fight this project and will not give up our forests for the Mahan coal mine. Despite the support of the Minister of Tribal Affairs, this news makes us wonder if any of the ruling parties at the Centre or State actually care about the fate of adivasis and forest-dwellers. What is the point of passing the Forest Rights Act if the same government then prevents its implementation?"
In July 2013, the Minister of Tribal Affairs had written to the Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and the Governor raising the issue of non-implementation of the Forest Rights Act in Singrauli, and asking that no forest clearances be processed until the FRA had been implemented.Implementation of the FRA is the responsibility of the state government, but the Centre does have the responsibility to ensure proper implementation prior to granting forest clearance. Non-implementation of the Forest Rights Act is the main reason that projects like Vedanta's Niyamgiri mine and POSCO's Odisha project have failed to move forward.
On January 22, Greenpeace and the Mahan Sangharsh Samiti, an organisation of villagers opposing the Mahan coal mining project had protested outside Essar headquarters in Mumbai, questioning Mr. Moily's hasty pro-industry decisions. Essar has sued both Greenpeace and the villagers of the Mahan Sangharsh Samiti for defamation, seeking damages of Rs. 500 crore and has also pressed for gag order.
Essar has also sought an injunction to prevent Greenpeace from asking for Mr. Moily's resignation as the Environment Minister. Arundhati Muthu, Greenpeace campaigner who was at the court says, "To have a private company jumping to the defence of a sitting Cabinet Minister is highly suspicious, to say the least. Essar's desperation to prevent any discussion on Veerappa Moily's role in granting hasty forest clearances is now easy to understand - they were clearly expecting this clearance order to come through."
The Mahan coal block was allocated to Essar-Hindalco in 2006, during the Coalgate era and is currently under the CBI's scanner. Questions have been raised over the manner in which it was allocated, with the state government initially opposing the block being given to Essar and then changing its position within 3 weeks.
Greenpeace and MSS demand that this decision be revoked in light of the evidence of FRA violations on the ground and will be examining all options to fight the clearance.
For more information, please contact:
Priya Pillai, Senior Campaigner, Greenpeace India: 09999357766, 
Avinash Kumar Chanchal, Media Officer, Greenpeace India: 08359826363, 
Jagori Dhar, Senior Media Officer, Greenpeace India: 09811200481, 
Anindita Datta Choudhury, Senior Media Officer, Greenpeace India: 09871515804, 