Congress alleges forged gram sabha consent for Singrauli mining in Madhya Pradesh

New Delhi

Alleging that gram sabha consent for coal mining in Madhya Pradesh’s Singrauli district had been obtained through forged resolutions carrying the thumb impressions of deceased persons, the Congress on Thursday (July 9, 2026) demanded a CBI inquiry into what it called angootha chori (stealing thumb impressions).

The party said the alleged fraud in tribal areas was part of a wider pattern of subversion of environmental and forest safeguards.

At a press conference in New Delhi, All India Congress Committee (AICC) national coordinator for SC, OBC, Minority and Adivasi Departments K. Raju and Adivasi Congress chief Vikrant Bhuria alleged that fake gram sabha approvals had been used to facilitate mining in the Dhirauli coal block in Singrauli, where, they claimed, a company linked to the Adani group was operating.

There was no immediate response from the company or the administration to the allegations.

Cites RTI documents

Mr. Bhuria cited RTI documents and death certificates to claim that the names and thumb impressions of persons who had died years earlier appeared in gram sabha resolutions shown as having been passed in 2021.

He referred to the cases of Brij Bhan Singh, who died in 2014 but was allegedly shown as having given consent in 2021; Phooleswari Singh, who died in 2018 but whose consent was allegedly recorded three years later; and Jag Bandhan Singh Gond, who died in 2015 but whose thumb impression was allegedly used in 2021.

Mr. Bhuria also alleged that some living residents who were literate and ordinarily sign documents had their thumb impressions affixed instead.

Such practices violated the Forest Rights Act and the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, under which gram sabha consent was mandatory in Scheduled Areas before land could be acquired or forest land diverted, the Congress leaders said.

Mr. Raju accused the BJP of siding with corporate interests over the constitutional rights of Adivasi communities and said the party had, over the past 12 years, “waged a war” on tribals in the name of development.

The Congress demanded a CBI probe into the alleged fraud, action against officials and companies involved, and a halt to mining activity in the area until the claims were independently verified.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh amplified the charge on social media, saying that after “vote chori, seat chori and chanda chori”, the country was now witnessing “angootha chori”.

In a separate post, Mr. Ramesh widened the attack on the Narendra Modi government and targeted Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav over the abrupt removal of four of his close aides.

The Congress communication chief said that since June 2025, the Union Environment Ministry and the Rajasthan government had made “determined efforts” to redraw the critical tiger habitat boundary at Sariska, a move, he alleged, would allow more than 50 closed mining operations to resume.

He said the Forest Survey of India had opposed any redefinition of the Aravalli Hills that could open the ecologically fragile region to mining and real estate development, and that the Supreme Court-mandated Central Empowered Committee and the apex court’s amicus curiae had supported that position.

Yet, he alleged, the Ministry persisted with the proposal. “These developments bear recall now in the light of sudden sacking of four close aides of the Union Minister,” Mr. Ramesh said, adding that the episode showed “a complete collapse of due diligence and accountability at the very top”.