Overview
- The Congress fact-finding delegation said police and local administrators blocked its entry to the Beradaha/Dhirauli forest in Singrauli and prevented meetings with affected villagers.
- Leaders reported visits to nearby villages where residents alleged coerced consent for land acquisition, severe coal-linked pollution and deteriorating school conditions.
- Congress figures claimed more than one million trees are slated to be cut across roughly 4,000 hectares and accused authorities of sidelining tribal rights.
- The opposition reiterated earlier charges that villages were excluded from a notified area to benefit a private group and described restricted public access to what they called an 'Adani zone.'
- District Collector Gaurav Bainal rejected the allegations, citing MoEFCC second-phase approval for the Dhirauli block, completed Gram Sabha and public hearings, Forest Rights Act compliance, non-PESA/Non-Fifth Schedule status and phased tree felling and acquisition with no residents in the immediate clearing area.