Hundreds of locals in Shan State’s Laikha Township have organized opposition against a planned coal mining venture.

More than 700 civilians and monks from 27 village tracts demonstrated on September 29 against the project in Laikha’s Hton Yeing area, which is set to take over 1,300 acres of paddy field land. The mining site is also located upstream from a water source relied upon by locals, which could become unusable due to pollution caused by coal extraction.

U Tay Zaniya, the abbot of Laikha’s Kan Tong monastery and a leader of the protest at the project site last month, told SHAN that companies and individual businessmen have already attempted three to four times to dig for coal in Hton Yeing.

“The people don’t agree and they oppose it, but the companies say that they will dig for coal even though locals don’t agree with it,” he said, adding that people in the area have approached a member of the Shan State parliament for support.

Sai Kyaw Zayya, Laikha’s MP, said that the issue has been reported to the parliament’s natural resource maintenance committee. Committee members will carry out a field investigation in Hton Yeing and speak to locals about their concerns. A date for the committee’s visit has not yet been confirmed, the MP added.

“The people don’t want a coal mining project in their area. They are so worried about environmental damage,” Sai Kyaw Zayya told SHAN, adding that he hoped locals and monks would “speak frankly” to the committee when they visit. “We are representatives of the people and we will stand with the people.”

He added that the proposed project could cause air and water pollution and damage local forests, and urged investors to “listen to the people’s voice.”

“I would like to urge businessmen to stop this coal mining project before it actually starts,” Sai Kyaw Zayya said.

Local Sai Nount explained that the residents of the Hton Yeing area are firm in their position against the mining project.

“Our people are not stupid and we are not blind. We know what is unfair, and how to get justice. Nobody can dig for coal in this area if the local people don’t agree to it—even the government cannot do it if the people don’t agree to it,” he said.

Abbot U Tay Zanniya appealed to “state leaders, capitalists, and businessmen” to think of the impact of the project on Laikha’s local population.

“They should not harm the people. I want to ask them to be sympathetic to the people,” he said.

SHAN was not able to identify the mining company in question at the time of reporting, but locals said that it is active in other coal extraction projects in the Shan State townships of Panglong and Mongkai.