Ramesh hits back at Env ministry over its rebuttal of his charges on Dhirauli coal mine project

New Delhi, Sep 17 (PTI) Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday reiterated his charges of "blatant irregularities" in the approval process for Adani Group's Dhirauli coal mining project and cited a 2023 reply in the Lok Sabha by the Coal Ministry to claim that the project falls in an area protected under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution.

Ramesh alleged that the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change's rebuttal of his statements earlier, stating that the mining land did not fall in the area protected under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution, was "false".

There was no immediate reaction from the Environment Ministry or the Adani Group on his allegations.

In a rebuttal to Ramesh's allegations last week, the Environment Ministry had said, "Both Stage-I and Stage-II approvals have been duly granted by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. Allegations with regard to violations of constitutional protections are factually incorrect and misleading." "I had raised the issue of the blatant irregularities in the approval process for Modani’s Dhirauli coal mining project on September 12th. The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests, and Climate Change (MOEF&CC) responded almost immediately claiming that -- the mining land did not fall in the area protected under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution; the required legal process under the Forest Right Act, 2006 had been duly completed," Ramesh said on X on Wednesday.

"The first claim is false. On August 9, 2023, the-then Union Minister of Coal answered clearly and categorically in the Lok Sabha that the Dhirauli coal mining project actually fell in an area protected under the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution," he said and shared the screenshot of the ministry's reply.

As far as the second claim is concerned, the Forest Rights Act, 2006 includes not just individual forest rights but also community forest resource rights (CFR) and habitat rights of particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs), Ramesh said.

The Dhirauli coal mine involves the diversion of about 3,500 acres of forest land across five villages, with at least three other villages adjacent to these forests likely to be dependent on them, he pointed out.

All the three types of tribal rights in these eight villages have to be settled first, Ramesh argued.

"On March 31, 2022, the District Collector had certified that the complete process for identification and settlement of rights under the Forest Rights Act, 2006, had been carried out and that the rights of the particularly vulnerable tribal groups had been safeguarded. But by the Madhya Pradesh's government's own information, no community rights or habitat rights in the entire district of Singrauli, in which these eight villages are located, have been recognised till now," the Congress leader said.

Last Friday, Ramesh had alleged that the Adani Group has begun cutting trees on government and forest land for its coal mine project in Madhya Pradesh's Dhirauli in "blatant violation" of the Forest Rights Act. The state government, however, had rejected the allegation as baseless.

The former environment minister had also claimed that the Modi government imposed this allotment from above in 2019, and is now rushing ahead with it in 2025 without the essential legal clearances.

Refuting the charges, the Madhya Pradesh government had said all necessary approvals and processes have been duly followed and the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has granted Stage-II approval (final approval) for the Dhirauli project.

It claimed that the project land neither comes under the PESA area nor the Fifth Schedule Area, and a public hearing had been carried out as per rules and with the Gram Sabha approval. It also said the process of paying total compensation of Rs 18 crore to 49 patta owners is underway at the district level.

Earlier this month, Adani Power said it had received the coal ministry approval to commence mining operations at the Dhirauli mine in Singrauli district of Madhya Pradesh.

According to the statement, Adani Power has received approval from the Ministry of Coal to begin operations at the Dhirauli mine. PTI ASK DV DV