Tribal minister slams govt over Mahan coal block allocation

Minister of tribal affairs V. Kishore Chandra Deo has come down heavily on the Central government for granting clearance to the Mahan Coal Block (MCB) in Madhya Pradesh. “Granting of forest clearance to MCB is a blatant violation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA) and against the MoEF notification of August 2009 which emphasised the importance of getting community consent,” said Mr Deo following a meeting with seven members of the Mahan Sangharsh Samiti. The MCB has received Stage-1 clearance based on the fulfilling 36 conditions including the implementation of the FRA. But MSS members pointed out that gram sabha meetings are being disrupted by local officials from Mahan Coal Ltd with the help of the local administration. A special gram sabha on FRA was held on March 6, 2013, in Amelia attended by 184 people. But the copy of the resolution obtained through an RTI showed 1,100 signatures of villagers many of whom have been long dead. This meeting of MSS has come on the heels of the historic Niyamgiri Gram Sabha which met to decide the fate of Vedanta. Commenting on the Niyamgiri Gram Sabha meet on whether to permit mining on the Niyamgiri hills, Mr Deo said: “While the Supreme Court has asked the NGS to take the opinion of twelve gram sabhas, I believe the opinion of all gram sabhas must be taken.”