Soon after he got married eight years ago, Ahirban Markam got advice from his in-laws that stunned him. They asked him to be wary of any proposal to start coal mining in his village, Madanpur, in the Korba district of Chhattisgarh. His in-laws lived in a village that fell right in the middle of the Chotia coalfields. They had thought the discovery of coal under the fields would turn their lives around; instead, their world became a living hell. They didn't want their son-in-law - and, of course, their daughter - to meet a similar fate, hence the startling advice to Markam.
Madanpur falls in the Hasdeo-Arand coalfields that hold reserves of high-grade coal. Having acted on the suggestions of his prescient in-laws, Markam has now become an active member of the Hasdeo-Arand Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, a committee formed under the banner of the Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan to oppose coal blocks reallocation and mining in the region. While addressing people during awareness campaigns, he likes cite the example of his in-laws and give details of the hardships they have faced: loss of farm land, no rehabilitation, and pollution.
The bitter experiences of others around them have driven these villagers in Chhattisgarh to unite and oppose any move to reallocate mines that hold rich deposits of the black gold. All told, 20 tribal village councils (gram sabhas) in the Hasdeo-Arand and Raigarh-Mand coalfield areas have passed formal resolutions under the Forest Rights Act, vetoing the opening of coal blocks in their traditional forestlands.
"We were never informed that the coal block allocation would have such an impact, and that a large population would be displaced," says Sevaram Paikra, a resident of Salhi which falls in the Parsa East coal block in the Sarguja district. The block was originally allotted to the public sector Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam, but later passed into the hands of the Adani group through an MDO (mining development and operations) contract. Paikra says when the district authorities called a meeting of the gram sabha in 2008 to get their acquiescence in the mining, the villagers were never briefed that many of them would be displaced from their homes and their land acquired for the company. "The villagers thought that only a few hundred feet would be taken away, but realised the gravity of the situation when one by one most of them got evicted from their lands," Paikra says. "We gave our consent but saw the outcome soon," he adds.
After the land acquisition, the promises made were not kept and people are still waiting for compensation, Paikra says. In 2011, the affected villages organised special gram sabhas and cancelled the proceedings of the meeting held in 2008 that had allowed the miners in. They got some respite last year when the Supreme Court cancelled the allocation of almost all coal mines over allegations of impropriety in their allotment.
The coal blocks have now come up for auction again, as the Narendra Modi government is keen to give a big push to the power projects that have been held up because of the unavailability of coal. This time, the villagers have decided to oppose mining in their villages at any cost. In fact, the people are wary now of not just the mines but all large projects that can cause displacement, thanks to the state's poor record in rehabilitation. An example is the Hasdeo Bango dam project. Constructed across the Hasdeo, it is located 70 km from Korba. It has a catchment area of 6,730 km mostly covering the coalfields. Shivnath, a resident of the area, narrates that about 52 villages have been affected by the project and many displaced. "The allowance that the affected villagers were getting has stopped, while the settlement constructed for their rehabilitation is in a shabby shape, with no one bothering to help," he says.
Ironically, the land on which the dam-affected have been settled comes under the Fatepur coal block, now up for mining. It is likely they will face another displacement. "Given our earlier experience, we are not going to give up our land for any project," say Shivnath. Numerous acts of omission like these have strengthened the resolve of the villagers to resist any attempt to mine coal in their villages.
Lives left displaced
Chhattisgarh has a resettlement and rehabilitation policy that promises compensation of Rs 6 lakh per acre for non-agriculture land, Rs 8 lakh for single-crop land and Rs 10 lakh for double-crop land. Besides, a job for one member of a displaced family is also assured. But the people affected in the Kete Basan blocks have not received their compensations to date, the excuse being that many villagers did not have the title of their landholdings. According to Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan's Convenor Alok Shukla, the deeds were allotted to the villagers under the Forest Rights Act in 2013 and the process is on for their rehabilitation and compensation. State Mining Secretary Subodh Kumar Singh says he will look into the matter if the villagers are denied rehabilitation packages.
Umeshwar, the sarpanch of Madanpur, feels the communication among people spread across the villages in the Hasdeo-Arand and Raigarh-Mand coalfields has brought about a significant difference in thinking this time. Most of them have relatives staying in different villages across the coalfields. "When they meet for any occasion, those staying in a mining area narrate their problems to the others. In this way, a perception has built up in the region that coal mines imply disaster," says Umeshwar says. This is the reason why the protest against coal mining in the region could start without being led by any organisation or with outside support. It is only for better coordination among themselves that the villagers have joined hand under the banner of the Hasdeo-Anand Bachao Sangharsh Samiti. This committee has 2,000 members, each of whom donate Rs 100 every year to meet its expenses.
The forests here have been a part of tribal life for long. "The villagers feel that giving away their ancestral property and staying in government provided land will hurt their self-esteem," says Samar Singh Paikra of Parogia village. They feel they will be forever obliged to the government and that they will never enjoy the full freedom to follow their rich tradition and culture.
Fight for rights
Unlike in the past, the villagers are aware of the rights they enjoy under the Constitution. The Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan, a non-government organisation, has been working with the villagers to educate them about their rights. "The coalfields come under Schedule 5 areas where Panchayat Extension to Scheduled Areas Act 1996 and Forest Rights Act 2006 (Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights Act) are applicable and therefore consent of gram sabha is required prior to any mining in the region," Shukla says. In Schedule 5 areas, the gram sabha assumes special significance as not just a key stakeholder in decision-making and policy planning, but also in protecting traditional tribal livelihood, customs and identity. With the gram sabhas formally passing resolutions to not allow coal mining, its impact is being felt in 16 coal blocks in Chhattisgarh. Of these, three have been offered for auction in the first phase: Parsa East, Kete Basan and Parsa. The Hasdeo Arand coalfield is spread over North Korba, South Sarguja and Surajpur districts. This is one of the largest forest areas still intact in central India outside of the protected forests and among the very few pristine natural forests in the country that cannot be replicated through afforestation.
The coalfield covers a total area of 1,878 square km, of which 1,502 square km has forest cover. The coalfield has total estimated reserves of 5.179 billion tonnes, of which 1.369 billion tonnes have been proven to date. A total of over 30 coal blocks have been mapped and identified and 16 were allocated to various public sector and private players. Those were cancelled by the Supreme Court.
The villagers in the Hasdeo area are in no mood to give up. They have prepared a long-term strategy too. In the 20 villages, the Hasdeo-Arand Bachao Sangharsh Samiti has fielded its members to contest the panchayat elections due to be held later in the month and have been campaigning vigorously for their victory. If they succeed, the sarpanches (village heads) backed by them will be in office for another five years.
