Skip to main content

More than 2,000 West Bengal rural families face eviction following opencast mining project in Raniganj area

By Ashok Shrimali*
Proposed opencast mining by the Eastern Coalfields Ltd (ECL) around several of the villages that form Kenda gram panchayat – Kenda, South Kenda, Saldanga, Ban Dhowra, Jhanti Ban, Mandol Para, Majh Para, Konda Koli and Bauri Para – is threatening to evict around 2,035 families living in the Raniganj coalfield area of West Bengal.
Already, large-scale blasting within the 500 metres distance from the residential areas, schools and village roads has taken place following an ECL survey, which is said to have found a huge reserve of quality coal below the surface of Kenda village. Plans are for a mega opencast project, approved by the Coal India Limited.
People of the area fear, as a result of this project, agricultural land, water bodies, trees and other vegetation will be destroyed, and groundwater may deplete. They are already being compelled to leave from the place of their living.
To fight their predicament, they have formed the Kenda Gram Rakha Samiti. It has submitted a memorandum to the ECL, saying that the villagers would have no other option but to thwart all the ECL efforts for going ahead with the proposed mega project.
As the demand for a complete rehabilitation package for each of the 2,035 families, who will be affected by the proposed West Kenda OCP Mega Project, is finding increasing support in the region, the ECL management has chosen the path of repression, targeting the weaker sections of the villagers to evacuate the homestead land.
The ECL is particularly targeting 570 scheduled caste and tribal families reside at Saldanga, Ban Dhowra, Jhanti Ban, Mandol Para, Majh Para, KondaKoli, and Bauri villages. Some of these families reside on patta land, while others live on wasteland.
Meanwhile, the ECL has adopted a new policy. The General Manager of Kenda Area, ECL, has given permission to start the West Kenda Opencast Extension Project within a year close to the New Kenda underground pithead and No 3 Dhowra and Muchipara.
Blasting has been taking just about 30 to 50 meters from some of the residential areas. Houses vibrate during plasts, cracks have developed on the walls of 90 percent of the houses. The ceilings of 10 houses have collapsed, and six houses have been completely destroyed.
Blasting, as a rule, cannot take place within 500 metres distance of the residential area, school, roads and other constructions.
Already, mass mobilization against displacement staring on the face of the people face of and illegal blasting activity by ECL in the Raniganj coalfield area, is taking place. A rally protest rally was organized at Asansol by several mass organizations, trade unions and civil rights on February 5. A representation was given to the additional district magistrate, demanding early solution to the people’s problems.
Said Sudipta Paul and Sipra Chakraborty, belonging to the NGO Adhikar, which is working in the area, “It is not just the people who are under the Kenda gram panchayat, but also of some other villages – especially Harishpur, Madhabpur, Belbandh, Mohonpur, Pahargara, Naba Kajora in the Raniganj coalfield region – who find their has turned unsafe for human habitation.”
“In all”, they said, “There are 139 unstable areas of in the Raniganj coalfields region. The ECL management is becoming more and more aggressive to displace the people living in the coal bearing area for years without any proper rehabilitation.”
---
*Senior Gujarat-based activist. General secretary, mines, minerals & People (mm&P)

Comments

TRENDING

'Enough evidence' in Indian tradition to support legal basis for same-sex marriage

By Iyce Malhotra, Joseph Mathai, Sandeep Chachra*  The ongoing hearing in the Supreme Court on same-sex marriage provides space for much-needed conversations on issues that have hitherto remained “invisible” or engaged with patriarchal locker room humour. We must recognize that people with diverse sexualities and complex gender identities have faced discrimination, stigma and decades of oppression. Their issues have mainly remained buried in dominant social discourse, and many view them with deep insecurities.

Savarkar 'criminally betrayed' Netaji and his INA by siding with the British rulers

By Shamsul Islam* RSS-BJP rulers of India have been trying to show off as great fans of Netaji. But Indians must know what role ideological parents of today's RSS/BJP played against Netaji and Indian National Army (INA). The Hindu Mahasabha and RSS which always had prominent lawyers on their rolls made no attempt to defend the INA accused at Red Fort trials.

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Victim of communal violence, Christians in Manipur want Church leadership to speak up

By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ*  The first eleven days of May 2023 have, in many ways, been a defining period of Indian history! Plenty has happened in a rapid-fire stream of events. Ironically, each one of them are indicators of how crimes and the criminalisation of society has become the ‘new norm’; these include, the May Day rallies with a focus on the four labour codes which are patently against the rights of workers; the U S Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its Annual Report on 1 May stating that conditions for religious freedom in India “continued to worsen in 2022”; the continued protest by the Indian women wrestlers at Jantar Mantar for the expulsion of the chief of the Indian Wrestlers Federation on very serious allegations; the Elections in Karnataka on 10 May (with communalism and corruption as the mainstay); the release of the fake, derogative and insensitive film ‘The Kerala Story’; the release of World Free Press Index on 3 May which places India

Delhi HC rules in favour of retired Air Force officer 'overcharged' for Covid treatment

By Rosamma Thomas*  In a decision of May 22, 2023, the Delhi High Court ruled in favour of petitioner Group Captain Suresh Khanna who was under treatment at CK Birla Hospital, Gurugram, between April 28 and May 5, 2021, for a period of eight days, for Covid-19 pneumonia. The petitioner had to pay Rs 3,55,286 as treatment costs, but the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS) only reimbursed him for Rs 1,83,748, on the basis of government-approved rates. 

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Unlike other revolutionaries, Hindutva icon wrote 5 mercy petitions to British masters

By Shamsul Islam*  The Hindutva icon VD Savarkar of the RSS-BJP rulers of India submitted not one, two,or three but five mercy petitions to the British masters! Savarkarites argue: “There are no evidences to prove that Savarkar collaborated with the British for his release from jail. In fact, his appeal for release was a ruse. He was well aware of the political developments outside and wanted to be part of it. So he kept requesting for his release. But the British authorities did not trust him a bit” (YD Phadke, ‘A complex Hero’, "The Indian Expres"s, August 31, 2004)

Polygamy in India "down" in 45 yrs: Muslims' from 5.7 to 2.55%, Hindus' 5.8 to 1.77%, "common" in SCs, STs

By Rajiv Shah Amidst All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) justifying polygamy, saying it “meets social and moral needs and the provision for it stems from concern and sympathy for women”, facts suggest the the practice is down from 5.7 per cent of Muslim families in 1961 to 2.55 per cent in 2006.

India joining US sponsored trade pillar to hurt Indian farmers, 'promote' GM seeds, food

Counterview Desk  As many as 32 civil society organisations (CSOs), in a letter to Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal on the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) and India joining the trade pillar, have said that its provisions will allow the US to ensure a more favourable regulatory regime “for enhancing its exports of genetically modified (GM) seeds and GM food”, underlining, it will “significantly hurt the livelihoods of Indian farmers.”

Modi govt 'wholly untrustworthy' on Covid data, censored criticism on pandemic: Lancet

By Rajiv Shah   One of the world’s most prestigious health journals, brought out from England, has sharply criticised the Narendra Modi government for being “wholly untrustworthy on Covid-19 health data”, stating, the “official government figures place deaths at more than 530 000, while WHO excess death estimates for 2020 and 2021 are near 4·7 million.”