Congress MLAs staged a walkout from the Madhya Pradesh Assembly on Friday (December 5, 2025), the last day of the Winter Session, in protest against the felling of around 6 lakh trees for a coal block of the Adani Group in Singrauli district.
In the House, MLA Vikrant Bhuria, national president of the Adivasi Congress, raised the issue with an attention motion and said “massive tree felling” was going in various villages like Dhirauli, Amreli and Birkuniya, alleging that the tribal population was being “deprived of their rights to give benefits to capitalists and coal mining”. The issue led to a heated exchange between the treasury and opposition benches.
The government, however, refuted the allegations with Minister of State for Forest Dilip Ahirwar saying that trees were being cut as per rules of the Centre and the State, and that the same number of trees were being planted at different locations.
Mr. Bhuria, an MLA from Jhabua, said, “Permission from the Gram Sabhas is being obtained through coercion and intimidation, a judicial inquiry into this matter is necessary. PESA [Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act], the FRA [Forest Rights Act], other laws are also being violated throughout the district. Approximately 6 lakh trees are likely to be felled. 1,398 hectares of forest land in the Dharauli block is being deforested. This large-scale deforestation in this district is impacting water sources and displacing villagers.”
Mr. Bhuria demanded a judicial enquiry into the matter along with an joint House committee to probe the tree felling.
Mr. Ahirwar, however, denied the demand for a judicial probe, saying the coal block did not fall in the area notified under the PESA Act.
“The Dhirauli coal block was allotted to Stratatech Mineral Private Ltd on March 3, 2021, under the provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957, for the extraction of mineral coal in various villages of Sarai tehsil, covering a total area of 2,672 hectares. Following the allocation, a proposal for the diversion of 1397.54 hectares of forest land included within the coal block was submitted to the Government of India under the Forest (Conservation and Development) Act, 1980. The Government of India granted its final approval on May 9, 2025. The coal block area does not fall within the notified PESA area,” Mr. Ahirwar said, denying charges of intimidation and that the project was affecting the rights of locals.
Stratatech was a subsidiary of the Adani Group, which was last year merged with another subsidiary — Mahan Energen Limited that now manages the coal block.
Mr. Ahirwar said permission had been granted to cut 5,70,667 trees in the 1397.54 hectare area in compliance with the conditions put up by the Centre, and that 33,000 trees had been cut so far.
The Minister also said that more than 13.97 lakh saplings would be planted in various districts such as Agar Malwa, Raisen, Shivpuri and Sagar.
Mr. Bhuria, however, said cutting down trees in Singrauli and planting saplings in other districts would not help the local population and environment.
Various Congress MLAs also alleged that the coal block area was protected under the Fifth Scheduled of the PESA until 2023 and that the status was “changed between 2023 and 2025”.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya, however, claimed the PESA Act was “never implemented” in Singrauli as the district had a “low tribal population”.
Congress MLAs also questioned the presence of “1,500 police personnel” for security during the tree felling in the area.
The Congress has raised the issue of Dhirauli coal mining project several times this year, with party national general secretary (communications) and former Union Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, terming the tree felling and other developments an “environmental tragedy and a disaster” for local Adivasi communities.
Mr. Ramesh also alleged several violations in securing legal and environmental clearances for the project, while accusing the BJP governments at the Centre and in the State of “benefiting” the Adani Group.
Published – December 05, 2025 10:58 pm IST
