Mahan Coal Limited is a disputed coal mine project in

Singrauli district Singrauli district is one of the districts in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. History It was previously ruled by the Maharajas of Singrauli State till 1971, after which the monarchy was abolished. Singrauli district has its headquarters at Wa ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

, India. The project has been opposed by environmentalists since it seeks to pull down 1200 acres of old sal forests for a coal mine. At least 500,000 prime

sal tree ''Shorea robusta'', the sal tree, sāla, shala, sakhua, or sarai, is a species of tree in the family Dipterocarpaceae. The tree is native to India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Tibet and across the Himalayan regions . Evolution Fossil evidence from lig ...

s would be chopped, and 54 villages with a considerable tribal population would be displaced. However, a group of villagers have also been supporting the mine since it would boost the local economy.

Business

Mahan Coal Ltd is a Rs 5,000-crore joint venture between

Essar Energy Essar Energy plc is Mauritius-based Indian energy company with assets in the power and oil and gas businesses. Headquartered in Port Louis, Mauritius and subsidiary of Essar Group, the firm has interests in both the power generation and petrol ...

and the

Aditya Birla Group Aditya Birla Group is an Indian multinational conglomerate, headquartered in Mumbai. It operates in 100 countries with more than 1,40,000 employees directly and indirectly. The group was founded by Seth Shiv Narayan Birla in 1857. The group ha ...

(Hindalco). Part of the controversy is based on claims by

Greenpeace India Greenpeace India is the Indian branch of the global environmental group Greenpeace, a non-profit NGO, with a presence in 55 countries across Europe, the America, Asia. Greenpeace India has legally registered society in four locations with Bengalur ...

that the sanction for the coal mine was given based on a Gram Sabha (village board) resolution that had been forged. The land was allocated to the company based on this document. However, in 2014, the coal block land was deallocated by the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

resulting in sharp drops in the company's stocks. Its original allocation in 2006 is part of the

Indian coal allocation scam The Coal allocation scam, dubbed in media as Coalgate, is a major political scandal concerning the Indian government's allocation of the nation's coal deposits to public sector enterprise (PSEs) and private companies. In a draft report issued i ...

. During investigations, the Ministry of Power stated that it had opposed a role for Hindalco in the mine, quote: Ministry of Power old the CBIthat it did not recommend the 2006 allocation of Mahan coal block to Hindalco. Instead, it claimed to have asked the Ministry of Coal to allocate Mahan to Essar Power. but the coal ministry under

Manmohan Singh Manmohan Singh (; born 26 September 1932) is an Indian politician, economist and statesman who served as the 13th prime minister of India from 2004 to 2014. He is also the third longest-serving prime minister after Jawaharlal Nehru and Indir ...

allocated the mine to the joint company.

Opposition by Greenpeace India

Since the BJP government came to power, the project has seen considerable support, and has been linked in the media for the Government actions against Greenpeace India. In January 2015, Priya Pillai, a Greenpeace campaigner, who was very active in Mahan, was offloaded from a flight while she was to meet some British MPs inquiring into the matter. The issue is relevant to Britain, since Essar Power is listed in the London Stock Exchange. In March 2015, the Ministry of Environment did not give a clearance for the project, and subsequently Ministry of Coal announced that the Mahan coal block would not be auctioned for mining, which was viewed as a victory by the tribespeople living in the villages.

References

{{coord, 24.062, 82.624, display=title Coal mines in India Singrauli district Essar Group Joint ventures Aditya Birla Group Environmental controversies Mining in Madhya Pradesh