More than two years after Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan went on a dharna for fast-track clearance of Mahan coal block in Singruli district, many local people have come together under the banner of Mahan Sangharsh Samiti (MSS) and are prepared to fight against the company and local administration.

Having failed to reach their angst to top policymakers of the state, seven members of MSS met union minister of tribal affairs V Kishore Chandra Deo in New Delhi on Friday and informed him about their plight. In the past, Deo has championed protecting rights of locals by writing letters to the MP governor and chief minister in June.

Bechanlal Sah, MSS member and resident of Amelia village in Singrauli district, told the minister that Mahan Coal Ltd is pressuring locals to vacate the area. “The company said villagers don’t have rights on forests of the area, though many generations of our people have lived here and the forest is our only source of livelihood,” he told Governance Now, repeating what he had told the minister.

Mahan Coal Ltd is a joint venture between the Essar group and Hindalco Industries, the aluminum-manufacturing unit of Aditya Birla Group. The company was allocated the coal block in 2006, and though it got stage-one clearance last year, Mahan Coal is yet to get complete forest clearance from the ministry of environment and forest (MoEF).

A company can start mining only after receiving all clearances from MoEF.

Residents of Amelia and Budher villages who met the minister told him that the tehsildar, with help from local policemen, forced some villagers to sign and dotted lines and forged signatures of others who did not comply during gram sabha meetings.

“More than a thousand signatures have been forged, and signatures of some people who are dead are also present. The tehsildar is acting as a representative of the company,” MSS member Kripa Nath Yadav alleged. Yadav, a small farmer who owns an acre of land, said the forest is a source of livelihood for many people like him in the area.

According to the activists, gram sabha meetings in August 2012 and March 2013 were disrupted by officials from Mahan Coal and representative of the local administration. The consent of gram sabha is one of the requirements for mining activity to begin in any area.

Minister Chandra Deo, who had locked horns with his cabinet colleague, environment and forests minister Jayanthi Natarajan, on granting clearance to Mahan Coal block in 2012, said: “The allegations are serious. It is a criminal offence of cheating and forgery and I will get this investigated. I am committed to implement community forest rights.”

Stage-one clearance was granted to Mahan Coal with 36 conditions, which includes implementation of Forest Rights Act. In a letter to the MP chief minister, Chandra Deo had highlighted that not a single community forest right has been implemented in the area, including holding a free and fair gram sabha to decide on the issue.

“Granting of forest clearance to Mahan coal block is a blatant violation of legal requirements of the Forest Rights Act and the requirement for consent of gram sabha before commencement of mining activity,” the minister said.

The coal block lies in a rich biodiversity zone with 94 percent forest density, according to records available. Sixty-two villages around the Mahan forest area has been dependant on the forests, which have substantial part of the tribal population.

Allowing mining in Mahan would open the doors to other coal blocks as well, said Priya Pillai, senior campaigner, Greenpeace India. “Chatrasal, Ammelia North and several other blocks in Mahan forests are awaiting approvals. (If granted, these) will further fragment the entire forest zone in the region,” she said.

The MSS has also decided to call a meeting of affected people on August 4.