Fighting to Protect India

The Mahan forest, one of the oldest forests in Asia, is under threat from the coal industry.

But the tribal people of the area are fighting hard to stop the project.
 
40-year-old Kanti Singh from the Amelia village makes a living by collecting leaves from the Mahan forest and selling them to the nearest market.

She earns up to 100 US dollars a month.

But her work is in danger from coal mining in the forest.

“This is how we poor people keep our families alive. If you take away the forest from us then we will be destroyed in no time.”

The Mahan forest is one of the oldest and largest forest in Asia.

Now a joint venture by Hindalco Energy and Essar Power has receive government approval to mine for coal.

Priya Pillai is from Greenpeace India.

“The Union Ministry of Environment and Forest granted Stage I clearance to the Mahan coal block last year, along with 36  conditions which include implementation of Forest  Rights Act. However, the state government has gone ahead and given a non-objection certificate to the company on the basis of a fake village council resolution.”

A village council resolution supporting the project was signed in March this year.

There were more than 1,000 signatures on it but villager say they were forged... and some of the names are of people who are dead.

A local organisation Mahan Sangharsh Samiti or MSS is supporting the tribal people in their fight to stop the coal mining.

Last month they held a massive rally in Singrauli.

Bechan Lai is from MSS.

“The company is taking away our forests from us for their own use. We depend on forests for our life.  We have very small land holdings. We cannot survive without forest. The land is very fertile here and the area is free from pollution. But it’s not for long if government allows mining here. We don’t know where we will be rehabilitated.”

With the village council resolution in hand, this UK-based company is now waiting for the second clearance from the government.

Once they have it, the mining operation will start soon.

This means, more than 14 thousand people will be affected, with nearly half of them are tribals, like 28-year-old Jag Narain from Amelia village.

“We have many animals and rare species in our forests, which are all going to be destroyed. We have abundance of forest resources in our area. These companies want to destroy everything.”

And these people are ready to fight back... like Kripa Nath who lives in the forest.

“I’m ready to fight against the company for not giving me my water, forest and land rights. We are ready to fight for our rights and continue our struggle until our last breath.”