The auction process for the Pachama Dadar bauxite block in Balaghat district, Madhya Pradesh, was initiated in 2023. Yet a closer examination of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report submitted for this proposed mining project reveals serious procedural and substantive failures that call into question the legitimacy of the entire exercise.
The primary baseline data in the EIA covers only the period from December 2024 to February 2025 — a window of barely three months. This falls well short of the established standards and guidelines for environmental assessment, which require data across all seasons to capture the true ecological character of a region. Moreover, the report provides no information on the project’s water requirements or groundwater extraction, despite the fact that groundwater levels in and around the proposed mining area are already critically low. Without precise figures on daily and annual water consumption, it is impossible to assess the project’s impact on local water availability.
A Biodiversity Hotspot Under Threat
Within a 10-kilometre radius of the proposed mining zone lies 24,416.5 hectares of dense forest, home to wildlife including tigers, leopards, bears, spotted deer (chital), and sambar. This corridor connects the Kanha–Pench Tiger Reserve, one of India’s most significant conservation areas. The region’s biodiversity index, on a scale of 1,000, ranges from 929.000 — a value widely recognised as indicating exceptionally rich biodiversity.
On 12 February, hundreds of tribal people staged a road blockade (chakka jam) in front of the Ukwa Forest Range office in Baihar tehsil, demanding the cancellation of the environmental public hearing scheduled for 18 February. Their protest is not mere agitation — it is a constitutionally grounded assertion of rights over forest land, water, and livelihoods that have sustained their communities for generations.
Constitutional and Legal Violations
A careful study of the EIA and Environmental Management Plan (EMP) reports, along with public notices, makes it clear that this auction process violates constitutional, environmental, and legal provisions on multiple counts.
No block-specific, updated, and independent EIA study for the Pachama Dadar bauxite block is publicly available. Using reports from other, previously operating mines — such as manganese mines — as reference material constitutes a direct violation of the EIA Notification of 2006. Under the Terms of Reference (ToR) issued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, explicit documentation of social impacts, the status of forest rights, and the rights of affected communities is mandatory.
Most critically, the report’s claim that the Forest Rights Act (FRA) does not apply to this project area is a direct violation of the ToR conditions — and it renders the entire EIA suspect. The FRA applies to all forest areas across the country where Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers hold individual and community rights. No adequate assessment has been made of the impact on these communities’ personal and collective forest rights. This situation is directly contrary to the Forest Rights Act, 2006, and the directives of the Hon’ble Supreme Court.
Clause 19 of the Ministry’s notification dated 23 November 2023 explicitly mentions forest rights in relation to this project. Yet the report describes the long-term impacts of open-cast bauxite mining as “negligible” — a characterisation that flies in the face of scientific evidence. Certified documentation of the prior, free, and informed consent of gram sabhas under the PESA Act has not been provided. The impact on water resources has been systematically understated: while the EIA claims there are no permanent water sources within the core area, seasonal streams, rainwater harvesting systems, and groundwater recharge zones form the lifeblood of local agriculture. The already acute water crisis in the region is likely to deepen further — a risk the report does not adequately examine.
A One-Sided Picture of Socioeconomic Impacts
The EIA’s treatment of social and economic impacts is lopsided. Claims of employment generation are purely speculative and fail to clarify how many local tribal people will receive permanent jobs. There is no explanation of how displacement and livelihood loss will be compensated. Negative consequences — including truck traffic, dust, noise, health risks, and social unrest — are dismissed as negligible.
The Environmental Management Plan is similarly impractical. Regular water spraying in a water-scarce region is unrealistic. Measures such as green buffer zones and bank filling remain paper formalities. The genuine ecological restoration of land after open-cast mining is, in practice, not feasible. The auction process proceeded without prior environmental and social clearances — and no cumulative environmental impact assessment has been conducted — signalling clearly that revenue generation has been placed above environmental justice and constitutional rights.
A Long History of Mining’s Mixed Legacy in Balaghat
Balaghat has long been a mineral-rich district, with a particularly deep history of copper and manganese mining. The district contributes approximately 80 percent of India’s manganese production. But this economic legacy has left complex and often painful imprints on the lives of tribal communities.
The expansion of large mining projects and leases has placed growing pressure on the traditional agricultural lands and forest areas of tribal communities. In multiple instances, land has been acquired or encroached upon without consent, giving rise to disputes and conflicts over land rights. Some farmers have alleged encroachment even on agricultural land near permitted mining leases. Open-pit mines, soil removal, and forest clearance have caused land degradation, the drying up of water sources, and the deterioration of entire ecosystems — directly threatening subsistence agriculture. Forests and forest produce, which form a major resource base for tribal livelihoods, have been adversely affected. The influx of commercial mining operations and outside labour has disrupted local cultural structures, bringing about unwelcome changes in traditional ways of life.
Mining may have strengthened the regional economy in material terms, but its impact on tribal communities has been mixed and deeply challenging. Alongside its economic contribution, it has produced changes in traditional livelihoods, disputes over land and resource access, environmental stress, and social and economic fractures. The resolution of these issues is possible only through meaningful community participation, transparent land policy, environmental support, and the genuine protection of tribal rights.
What Must Be Done
The local MLA, Sanjay Uike (photo), has called for the immediate cancellation of the Pachama Dadar bauxite block auction process. He has demanded that the government make public the consent of all concerned gram sabhas, ensure full compliance with the Forest Rights Act, the Environment Protection Act, and the EIA Notification, and place the livelihoods, water security, and forest rights of tribal communities at the centre of all decision-making.
The government must act swiftly and justly. Protecting ecological balance, constitutional rights, and the public interest is not optional — it is a solemn obligation. To proceed with this auction in its current form would be to choose revenue over rights, and exploitation over justice. That is a choice no democratic government can afford to make.
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Bargi Dam Displaced and Affected Association
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