'Environmental tragedy': Congress slams 'large-scale tree felling' for Adani's coal project in Madhya Pradesh

New Delhi: The Congress on Tuesday accused the Adani Group of committing "procedural short-circuiting" in Madhya Pradesh's Dhirauli to cut down forests for a coal mine and described the reported "large-scale tree felling" as an "environmental tragedy and a social and economic disaster" for the local Adivasis.

Though there was no immediate response to the allegations from the Adani Group or the Madhya Pradesh government, the state dispensation had rejected as "baseless" the allegations made by the Congress earlier regarding the project.

Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "We had raised the issue of the procedural short-circuiting that Modani and Co. have committed in Dhirauli Madhya Pradesh to cut down forests for a coal mine. Reports have now emerged that large-scale tree felling has begun in the village under heavy police presence." "Local villagers have been barred from approaching the forest site and outsiders have been denied entry. The MP Adivasi Congress President Ramu Tekam has been arrested for raising the issue," Ramesh said.

"This is an environmental tragedy and a social and economic disaster for the local Adivasi tribes who are reliant on the forests for their livelihood," the former environment minister said.

In September, Ramesh had alleged that the Adani Group has begun cutting trees on government and forest land for its coal mine project in Dhirauli in "blatant violation" of the Forest Rights Act.

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.

There Madhya Pradesh government had then stated that the project was granted final approval by the environment ministry.

Refuting the charges by Ramesh, 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.

Ramesh had 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.

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