Image Courtesy:timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Days after Chhattisgarh’s tribal communities in HasdeoArand forest garnered support from government officials, three mining projects in the area were indefinitely put on hold, reported the Hindustan Times on June 10, 2022.
On October 14, 2021 as many as 350 tribals marched from Sarguja and Korba districts towards Raipur to meet Governor AnusuiyaUike and Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel. Community members wished to talk about the proposed coal mining projects in HasdeoArand region which is considered the ‘lungs’ of the region.
The area also includes a traditional elephant habitat and a catchment area for Hasdeo and Mand rivers, which irrigate the northern and central plains. As such, villagers have been protesting against mining projects for the last 10 years.
These sustained protests finally garnered support from Health Minister T. S. Singhdeo, who visited his own constituency Surguja as well as Surajpur on June 6, 2022, said the Hindustan Times. Singhdeo promised to take the first blow for the people if protesters are subjected to violence. Similarly, Chief Minister BhupeshBaghel on June 7 declared that not a single branch will be chopped without the consent of Singhdeo. Accordingly, collectors were instructed to halt all mining projects.
छत्तीसगढ़ के वरिष्ठ मंत्री टी एस सिंहदेव ने हसदेव में चल रहे आंदोलन को समर्थन देते हुए कहा कि अगर आप एकजुट हो कर लड़ेंगे और गोली चली तो पहली गोली मैं खाउंगा.
उन्होंने अडानी द्वारा खदान के समर्थन में गाड़ियों में भर-भर कर बाहर के लोगों को लाने पर भी नाराज़गी जताई.@RahulGandhi pic.twitter.com/hcHFZuEQC8
— Alok Putul (@thealokputul) June 6, 2022
However, while netizens celebrate this move, activists speaking to the newspaper asked that the government scrap the projects altogether.
Some relief reading that mining projects in #Hasdeo have been put on hold, though demand still continues to cancel them. Want to acknowledge this is an important milestone & one we owe to leadership on ground by the communities who have been protesting https://t.co/g2tj1dH441
— Neha (@nehsaigal) June 9, 2022
During a meeting on May 26, Chhattisgarh BachaoAndolan Convener Alok Shukla spoke about how there have been decades-long opposition from local communities against the mining projects that have received clearances from the Chhattisgarh government. Locals claim that these clearances were approved through serious irregularities like a forged gram sabha resolution, cancellation of their forest rights titles, illegal land acquisition, and administrative. For the last three years, villagers have repeatedly asked for an inquiry into this matter and even met the Chief Minister and Governor after a 300 km march. As such, he stressed the need to cancel the projects.
According to the Indian Express, all public hearings in the area related to mining have also been cancelled like the hearings for Kente extension and Parsa. However, while the matter was to be heard on June 13, the village sarpanch and others learnt about the cancellation on June 9. Meanwhile, district authorities issued the letter intimating the same on June 7. As such, the gram sabha has already convened and it recorded its verdict.
The HasdeoArand coalfield, spread over 1,878 sq km in the northern part of the state, comprises 23 coal blocks. In 2009, the Union Environment Ministry categorised the region as a “no-go” zone for mining but later said the policy was not “finalised”.
Yet an earlier report by the Peoples’ Commission on Public Sector and Services (PCPSPS) said the government had failed in its duty to develop and augment existing coal mines while handing over more land to private companies for such projects. The three projects in discussion have been allotted to the Rajasthan RajyaVidyutUtpadan Nigam (RRVUL). Both these states are governed by the Congress party.
Activists working on both Adivasi rights and the environment and climate change have been repeatedly asking the party to listen to people’s grievances.
#Hasdeo में PKEB कोयला खदान के दूसरे चरण में ग्राम घाटबर्रा की ग्रामसभा ने यूपीए सरकार के भूमि अर्जन कानून 2013 की धारा 41(3) के तहत भूमि अर्जन के प्रस्ताव का विरोध कर जमीन नही देने का निर्णय लिया
राज्य सरकार तत्काल भूमि अर्जन की अधिसूचना रद्द करे।@RahulGandhi @bhupeshbaghel pic.twitter.com/8rDQDR1bfl
— Alok Shukla (@alokshuklacg) June 9, 2022
Related:
GoI has failed in its duties towards coal provisions: PCPSPS
Scrap mining projects in Hasdeo forests: Friends of HasdeoAranya
Jal, Jungle, Zameen: Chhattisgarh Adivasis march 300kms to oppose coal mining projects
Dilution of environmental laws, a persistent tactic: AIUFWP