In Korba district, residents of over 18 villages have opposed the Gevra Coal Mine. Operational since 1981, this mine is one of the three in the Gevra Open Cast Coal Block. South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL), a subsidiary of Coal India Limited, operates this mine spread over 4,000 hectares of land. According to official documents, the project has affected more than 3,300 families in 18 villages, of which over 2,000 have been displaced.

In 2012, SELC proposed to increase the production capacity of the mine from 35 metric tonne per annum (MTPA) to 41 MTPA. The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change accepted the proposal in 2014. In 2015, the ministry granted environmental clearance (EC) to the project, following which the protests have intensified.

There seem to be three main points of contention. First, many of the project-affected families (PAFs) have claimed that the company has failed to compensate or provide employment and land according to the promised Rehabilitation and Resettlement plan for the existing mine. Second, they have accused the company of violating the Forest Rights Act, the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act and the Coal Bearing Areas Act. They also raised objections to the procedural violations in conducting the public hearing, held in August 2008, for the expansion plans. They have also raised concerns about the increasing levels of pollution due to mining, blasting and transportation activities. The opposition also stems from the negative impact of mining on the neighbouring villages. 

Before the EC was granted, Amnesty International claimed in 2014 that the company had started demolishing households without offering proper compensation. According to a media report, the PAFs were unhappy with the compensation package offered. 

On May 2, 2016, over 670 people from 41 villages gathered at the Gevra mining site to protest against SELC projects in the block. They protested against the alleged illegal land acquisition and demanded employment, rehabilitation and compensation as per the 2013 Land Acquisition Act. The police arrested protesters for halting the mining work. 

In February 2018, a delegation of protesting villagers held a meeting with the district administration to list their concerns and demands. The administration reassured them and claimed that the villages chosen for rehabilitation would provide all the basic amenities and public infrastructure to the affected families, reported a newspaper. On February 21, 2018, SELC again got an EC to expand the mining capacity. 

On June 18 that year, the Chhattisgarh high court ruled in favour of nine villagers demanding compensation for the land acquired for the Gevra project and directed the SELC to compensate the petitioners. 

In 2019, SELC again applied to increase the capacity of the mine to 49 MTPA. 

In June 2019, the Expert Appraisal Committee of the environment ministry recommended the Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board to seek feedback from the local stakeholders by issuing public notices, observing that the last public hearing was held in 2008. However, villagers allege that no such notifications were issued.

In January 2020, the residents of Raliya village submitted their comments on the project, but the administration allegedly ignored them. In March, the residents of Bhathora village stopped the coal mine work and reasserted their demands. They threatened to continue their agitation if the authorities did not address their concerns. Reportedly, security forces had to intervene to control the protests.

In May 2021, the environment ministry granted EC to SELC to expand the mining capacity to 49 MTPA. SELC then planned to re-apply to increase the capacity to 70 MTPA. Following which, residents who live close to the mine raised concerns over air pollution, the impact on ground water levels and compensation for acquired land, according to Deepak Sahu, joint secretary for Korba district.

In May 2022, people from Barbhatha and Pandripani villages reached the Gevra coal mine and stopped the excavation work going on here demanding water. Prashant Jha, head of Chhattisgarh Kisan Sabha, alleged that the SECL management forgot to provide basic facilities to the villagers on whose land it starts coal mines.

In September 2022, villagers of Narayanbodh and Ganganagar, led by Chhattisgarh Kisan Sabha (CKS) and Bhoomi-Vishwaste Rojgar Ekta Sangh, stopped coal production at SECL's Gevra mine for three hours demanding 100 percent employment to unemployed people of displaced villages in companies engaged in mining activities. SECL General Manager (Project) SP Bhati and APM S Parida reached the spot with a large police force and assured the protesters that a meeting will be held at the Gevra General Manager's office on 9 September to resolve the issue of blasting, settlement and compensation for Naraibodh. However, the issue of blasting continued.

In December 2022, Amgaon sarpanch Brij Kunwar highlighted many houses have been dilapidated due to heavy blasting and even the borewells in rural areas have sunk.

In August 2023, CIL Chairman PM Prasad inspected the Gevra Mega Project. The team told the chairman that for the first time in Coal India, digitization is being fully used in land acquisition in Khodri village, adjoining Kusmunda. The team added that with the help of drones installed for the project, the gradient of the mine's hall road has been improved.

A year after the Gevra coal mine became the country's first to produce 50 million tonnes, SECL received environmental clearance to boost Gevra mine's production capacity to 70 MTPA in March 2024.

In July 2024, SECL's Gevra and Kusmunda coal mines secured the second and fourth spot in the list of the world’s 10 largest coal mines released by WorldAtlas.com.