Over 1,000 landlosers belonging to 11 villages under the proposed Khagra-Joydeb coal mine in Birbhum’s Loba on Friday wrote to chief minister Mamata Banerjee seeking her intervention to accelerate the project, which did not witness any development in the past two years.

The mass petition, under the banner of the Loba Kirshijami Raksha Committee, was also sent to the Union coal ministry requesting it to direct the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) to start the work soon.

“Almost 70 per cent of preparatory work for the coal mine was completed but the pause button was pressed two years ago when the DVC last communicated with us. We wrote to our chief minister after the Deocha-Pachami coal mine project was started and we hope that things will also move at Loba,” said Joydip Majumdar, the secretary of the committee formed in 2009 to demand a better compensation package.

The Loba coal mine project was chalked out in 2008 and groundwork had almost ended by 2009. The pause button on the project was pressed in 2012 following a violent movement by prospective landlosers.

With the state government showing interest in the project and deciding to play mediator, work resumed in 2017 and the area was again surveyed with the help of the Birbhum district administration to prepare a database on land patterns.

The DVC, the implementing agency, needs around 3,600 acres of land for the project.

The landlosers of Loba said their hope for better compensation was rekindled after the chief minister announced a lucrative package for the proposed Deocha-Pachami coal mine project last year.

“If the chief minister helps us to get a package like Deocha, we will certainly benefit and have no objection in giving our land. Unfortunately, the state government has forgotten us and the full focus is on Deocha-Pachami,” said a landloser.

A senior state government official, however, said the package could not be the same as Deocha because the implementation agency was different. In the case of Loba, the DVC has its own policy to procure land and the state government chalked out the Deocha package.

Sources said land survey and social impact assessment for Loba was completed in 2020 and the DVC had earmarked a stretch of land to set up a rehabilitation colony.

“Three months ago the DVC had contacted us to discuss the project. With the people raising demand for the project, we will forward their petition to the DVC,” said a senior government official.

Farmers have also sent copies of their letter to the state;s chief secretary and the district magistrate.