Skip to main content

Land acquisition for coalmining: Outdated law being used to 'bypass' consultation

Chhattisgarh Adivasis protest Govt of India move 
Counterview Desk 
The Union Ministry of Coal’s notification to acquire more than 700 hectares of forest and Adivasi land in the Hadeo Aranya region of Chhattisgarh for under the Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition & Development) Act, 1957, is a “blatant attempt to bypass public consultation provisions under multiple Central laws including, the National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM), a civil rights network, has said.
The laws which are being allegedly being violated to allow the proposed Madan;pur South coalmine in the Hadeo Aranya include Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, (PESA), 1996; Forest Rights Act (FRA), 2006; Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006, the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (RFCTLARR) Act, 2013, NAPM said, even as extending solidarity with the protesting local communities.
Seeking withdrawal of the notification, NAPM insisted in a statement, the “government must respect constitutional powers of adivasi gram sabhas demanding withdrawal of the land acquisition notification and recognize their right over community forest resources.”

Text:

NAPM strongly condemns the recent attempt by the Union Ministry of Coal to acquire land for the proposed Madanpur South coal mine in Hasdeo Aranya region of Korba, Chhattisgarh without the consultation and consent of affected Gond Adivasi and other local communities.
On December 24, 2020, the Coal Ministry issued a notification to acquire 712.072 hectares of forest and Adivasi land affected by the project under the provisions of the Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition & Development) Act, 1957, of which 648.601 hectares is forest land and 63.471 is non-forest and private land.
Most of this land lies in the dense and biodiversity-rich Hasdeo Aranya forest region which will be decimated by multiple coal mining projects being proposed in this area. The forest areas earmarked for diversion by this project also overlap with land for elephant reserve proposed by the Chhattisgarh state government.
The Madanpur South mine was allotted by the Central government to the Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation (APMDC) in 2016, which chose Essel Mining & Industries Limited (part of the Aditya Birla Group) as the private Mine Developer and Operator (MDO) of the mine. The project is yet to acquire mandatory Environmental and Forest Clearances required prior to the start of land acquisition and mining.
Local, predominantly Gond Adivasi, and forest dependent communities of the Hasdeo Aranya region have been strongly opposed to the project. The proposed mine will displace an estimated 90 families in the two villages of Morga and Ketma. It will also completely destroy large areas of dense forests and water bodies that are central to the livelihood of hundreds of families in the region.
Multiple central government laws for land acquisition of Adivasi land and diversion of forest land require the prior consultation and consent of affected communities. These include the Forest Conservation Act, 1980; Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996; Forest Rights Act, 2006; Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006; and Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.
In contrast to these legislations, land notified under the Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition & Development) Act can be acquired without consultation of affected communities, who have only 30 days to submit their objections. The Coal Ministry’s recent attempt to use this outdated and draconian Act for land acquisition is a clear attempt to bypass vital provisions for public consultation and consent prior to land acquisition.
Demand for recognition of community forest resources rights under the Forest Rights Act, filed by 21 gram sabhas in the Hasdeo Arand region, remains pending
Adivasi and other local communities who will lose their land and forests due to the Madanpur South Mine have strongly rejected the government’s unjust and illegal efforts to acquire their land. On January 16, 10 gram sabhas from the Hasdeo Aranya region formally registered their opposition to this project and the absence of public consultation processes with the Union Coal Ministry and Government of Chhattisgarh. Ongoing protests in Morga, one of the villages facing displacement due to the mine, have also seen strong participation from other villages in the region.
These have included a public gathering under the banner of the Hasdeo Aranya Bachao Sangharsh Samiti on February 11, which involved hundreds of villagers affected by three other proposed coal mines in Hasdeo Aranya -- Parsa, Paturia and Gidhmuri. 
Moreover, the demand for recognition of community forest resources rights under the Forest Rights Act, filed by 21 gram sabhas in the Hasdeo Arand region, remains pending. Under this Act’s provisions, diversion of forest land can only be undertaken after the formal settlement of such claims to community forest resources.
NAPM stands in solidarity with Gond Adivasi and local communities opposing the Madanpur South coal mine and other proposed mines in the Hasdeo Aranya forest region. We fully support their legitimate demands for cancellation of these projects, which severely threaten their livelihoods, environment, health and way of life.
The Union Ministry of Coal must immediately withdraw its unfair and illegal notification to acquire land using provisions of the Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition & Development) Act. The use of outdated laws to bypass established processes for public consultation and consent of local communities is condemnable.
  • We demand that claims filed by affected gram sabhas for community forest resources under the Forest Rights Act be recognised on an urgent basis.
  • Union Government must reinstate previous recognition of Hasdeo Aranya and other highly biodiverse forest regions as ‘no-go’ areas for coal mining projects.
---
Click here for signatories

Comments

Anonymous said…
If the person bidding for mining rights is a crony politician - the process of overturning law and governments becomes very easy

TRENDING

Campaign group urges INDIA alliance to release Jharkhand manifesto to counter BJP’s 'divisive' agenda

By Our Representative  The Loktantra Bachao Abhiyan, an advocacy group, has issued a press release urging the INDIA alliance to release a Jharkhand-specific manifesto to counter the BJP’s "divisive" electoral agenda. With just two weeks remaining before the assembly elections, the INDIA coalition has yet to announce its plans and priorities for the state. Meanwhile, the BJP's campaign, according to the press release, is centered around communalism, divisiveness, and distraction from Jharkhand's core issues.

Tributes paid to pioneer of Naxalism in Punjab, who 'dodged' police for 60 yrs

By Harsh Thakor*  Jagjit Singh Sohal, known as Comrade Sharma, a pioneer of Naxalism in Punjab, passed away on October 20 at the age of 96. Committed to the Naxalite cause and a prominent Maoist leader, Sohal, who succeeded Charu Majumdar, played hide and seek with the police for almost six decades. He was cremated in Patiala.

Israel's 'war crime': 18,000 children died not just from bomb explosions but also starvation

By Sandeep Pandey*  Last year 6 years old Madiha was a guest during Diwali at our home in Lucknow. Listening to the sound of fire crackers bursting outside she remarked, ‘It appears as if we’re in Gaza.’ She has probably no idea of the extent of damage and loss of life that has taken place in Palestine but can relate to sound of crackers as bombs exploding over Gaza.

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.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah  The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Will Left victory in Sri Lanka deliver economic sovereignty plan, go beyond 'tired' IMF agenda?

By Atul Chandra, Vijay Prashad*  On September 22, 2024, the Sri Lankan election authority announced that Anura Kumara Dissanayake of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)-led National People’s Power (NPP) alliance won the presidential election. Dissanayake, who has been the leader of the left-wing JVP since 2014, defeated 37 other candidates, including the incumbent president Ranil Wickremesinghe of the United National Party (UNP) and his closest challenger Sajith Premadasa of the Samagi Jana Balawegaya. 

Will Bangladesh go Egypt way, where military ruler is in power for a decade?

By Vijay Prashad*  The day after former Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina left Dhaka, I was on the phone with a friend who had spent some time on the streets that day. He told me about the atmosphere in Dhaka, how people with little previous political experience had joined in the large protests alongside the students—who seemed to be leading the agitation. I asked him about the political infrastructure of the students and about their political orientation. He said that the protests seemed well-organized and that the students had escalated their demands from an end to certain quotas for government jobs to an end to the government of Sheikh Hasina. Even hours before she left the country, it did not seem that this would be the outcome.

United organisations oppose privatisation of health services in Madhya Pradesh

By Our Representative  In a strong show of opposition, multiple health associations under the umbrella of the United Organisations for Action against Privatisation of Health Services have condemned the Government of Madhya Pradesh’s recent moves towards privatising public health facilities. They argue that these actions, including outsourcing and the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model, will compromise the availability and accessibility of essential health services for the state’s citizens.

Why Han Kang refused to celebrate her personal accomplishment: Nobel Prize in literature

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak*  South Korean Nobel laureate Han Kang has declined to celebrate and refused to address a press conference after winning the 2024 Nobel Prize in Literature, citing the deaths, destitution, pain, and suffering of people affected by the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. As reported by the Korea Times, Han Kang’s father Han Seung a renowned Korean writer conveyed her daughter’s message that “with the war intensifying and people being carried out dead every day, how can we have a celebration or a press conference?” She said that “she won’t hold a press conference”.