As coal auctions begin in Delhi, a splendid forest in Chhattisgarh awaits slow death

As coal auctions begin in Delhi, a splendid forest in Chhattisgarh awaits slow death

	16 फ़र॰ (2 दिन पहले)

MINING DISASTER

As coal auctions begin in Delhi, a splendid forest in Chhattisgarh awaits slow death

Auctions might introduce greater transparency in coal mine allocations but won't resolve the questions over social and environment costs of mining.

Raksha Kumar
Today · 07:30 am

Photo Credit: Raksha Kumar

Krishna Kumar remembers his father talking about how “the company” will eventually take over their land and livelihood. Fifty years ago, Kumar’s father Dhanraj was considered cynical. Today, the people of Pali village consider him a visionary.

The village lies in Katghora block of Chhattisgarh's Korba district. South Eastern Coalfields Limited, a subsidiary of the government company Coal India Limited, has been mining in the district since the 1960s. With more than 70 million tonnes of coal excavated annually from 13 coal mines, including three of the largest in Asia, and 10,000 megawatts of power produced in about half a dozen thermal power plants, Korba is now one of India’s critically polluted areas.

The juggernaut of mining has transformed the landscape so dramatically that brown hills have sprouted around the city of Korba. These aren’t natural hills – they are made of accumulated overburden, or the soil excavated from the earth to get to the seams of coal.

Overburden hills made of loose soil 

Seventy kilometres north of Korba, the air becomes cooler, the sound of flowing water is clearer and only tall green trees meet the eye. The forest, called Hasdeo Arand, is spread over 1,200 square kilometres in north Chhattisgarh. It is one of India’s last remaining biodiversity rich forests with an unbroken canopy that acts as an important wildlife corridor. Amidst the generous natural beauty rests the village of Salhi, which has not more than 500 homes.

Sitting cross-legged on a cane cot in front of his modest house, Seva Ram, the sarpanch of Salhi village in Sarguja district, rubs dry tobacco on his left palm, contemplatively. “When a wild elephant enters our village," he said, "we know what harm it would cause us and we prepare ourselves accordingly. But when the company entered our village surreptitiously, we didn't know how to react.”

Ram was referring to Adani Mining, a wholly owned subsidiary of Adani Enterprises, which came to the area in 2009 to mine the 450 million tonne rich coal blocks of Parsa East and Kanta Basan. The two blocks were among the 20 coal blocks in the region that stood allocated to government and private companies, until the Supreme Court in September 2014 struck down the allocations of more than 200 coal blocks across the country, holding them illegal and arbitrary.

For a while, the people of Sali breathed easy. But the reprieve was short-lived. In October, the government passed an ordinance to make it possible to reallocate the mines. The executive order was followed up with the Coal Mines (Special Provisions) Bill, 2014, which received the approval of the Lok Sabha in December. The bill awaits the final passage through the Rajya Sabha before it can become law.

Seva Ram, the sarpanch of Salhi village

The new bill seeks to make amends for India’s two decade-long history of corruption-tainted coal mine allocations. Earlier, coal mines were allocated by a committee of bureaucrats in a process that was riddled with irregularities. Under the new system, companies have to bid to get mining rights. The government has put 23 blocks for auction in the first round which began in January and is expected to conclude in March.

While competitive auctions would introduce greater transparency in the process, activists say they are not the panacea for the crisis that plagues the system of natural resource allocation in India. Currently, the government first allocates the mine to a company and then assesses the social and environmental costs of the project. Well after companies have sunk funds into the project, the views of local communities are sought. By then, the dice is loaded against them, with both the government and the corporations pushing hard to see the project through. At best, local people are able to stall the project for some years. The resulting logjams extract both social and economic costs.

The cancellation of the coal mines by the Supreme Court presented the government with a clean slate. It could have fixed the systemic flaws in the allocation process, say activists. But it missed the bus.

Hasdeo forest in the backdrop of the mine operated by Adani in Sarguja

For one, it overlooked the strong rationale to keep intact forests like Hasdeo Arand. In 2010, the ministry of environment and forest superimposed forest cover maps on coal bearing regions and marked out nine forests that were too dense to be lost to coal mining. These forests were called “No-Go areas”. Hasdeo Arand was one of them.

Ignoring its own categorisation, however, the United Progressive Alliance government gave clearances to three coal mines in Hasdeo Arand. The Bharatiya Janata Party government has put one of those blocks for auction in the first phase itself. Another two blocks, Parsa East and Kanta Basan, are likely to be allotted to public sector companies soon. Speaking with Scroll, Anil Swaroop, the coal secretary, justified the decision. "We will only auction those mines that have the necessary permissions," he said.

But activists are dismayed at the decision. Contrary to popular perception, they argue that preserving the No-Go areas involves little economic trade-off. Put together, the No-Go areas represent only 8.11% of the total potential coal bearing area of the country. "Even if current energy needs are tripled, we can meet the demand for coal without venturing into ‘no-go’ areas for the next 66 years comfortably,” said Sudiep Shrivastava, a lawyer and mining activist.

Not only does the forest of Hasdeo Arand house endangered species, it ensures regular rainfall and maintains the water levels of the majestic Bango dam built across River Hasdeo. The dam irrigates 630,000 acres of agricultural land in Chhattisgarh and provides water to the coal mines and power plants in Korba. “How will those objectives be met if the dam loses its catchment area?” said Shrivastava.

“If you dig up coal in Hasdeo-Arand, you will ensure that the country potentially risks losing 10,000 MW of electricity in the next 20 years,” said Alok Shukla, the convenor of the non-profit, Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan.

The Bango Dam on Hasdeo river in Korba

Closely linked to the environment are the lives and livelihoods of the people. In January, before the auctions began, a group of people living in the villages of Hasdeo Arand decided to make one last attempt to persuade the government to not rush ahead with the coal mine bids. A contingent of a dozen people from Chhattisgarh arrived in New Delhi. Armed with letters from 16 gram sabhas, or village councils, that expressed strong opposition to mining projects, they met union minister for environment and forests Prakash Javadekar.

Among the group was Jainandan Singh Porte. Until a year ago, Porte used to grow rice and sell mahua seeds (a flower used to make liquor) in Ghatberra village. But since Adani entered the region, disturbed by the future threat of displacement, he jumped into activism.

“When I told the minister that I am opposed to mining in the Hasdeo region, he smiled and said ‘Bring your son to me next time. I will ask him what he wants.’” He chose not to argue with the minister, but the conversation left Porte convinced that his 14-year-old son faces a bleak future. “He might be doing menial jobs in the city, going at this rate.”

Porte and other mining affected people in New Delhi in January

Not only does the new coal bill fail to empower local communities, activists believe it legalises the excesses of private companies. Under the previous law, the Coal Mines (Nationalisation) Act of 1973, a company was allowed to mine coal for a specified end-use. That is, only as much coal as needed to run a power plant that they had established. This clause was put in to restrict the indiscriminate sale of a source of non-renewable energy in the open market. But Prakash Industries, a private company mining coal from the Chotia block in the Hasdeo region since 2006, extracted more than the amount of coal stipulated in its licence. While this amounted to illegal coal pilferage under the previous law, it might stand legitimised in the future since the new coal law has an enabling provision that could allow private companies to sell coal in the open market.

Similarly, the Parsa, Parsa East and Kanta Basan coal blocks were allocated entirely to public sector power companies belonging to Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan governments but Adani Mining found a backdoor entry into them by getting a mining development and operations contract wherein Adani held a 74% majority ownership of the joint venture. Joint ventures between government companies and private sector players were illegal according to the 1974 law, but the new law has found a way to make room for them.

Kante village in Sarguja district of north Chhattisgarh

The Supreme Court’s verdict might have put mining in Hasdeo Arand on hold. But Bajrang Singh, a 34-year-old farmer from Kanta village, has already lost the world he grew up in. His village, not more than 10 metres from the open cast mine, used to have ponds on three sides. But after the mining began, the lush greenery and abundant water dried up. Even ground water levels have fallen. When land is hollowed out to mine coal, the water from the surrounding areas tends to flow down to the deeper excavation site, drying up even ground water.

“The company sends water tankers to our homes everyday," said Singh. "We are free to take as much water as we want, but how much can we possibly store? So, we end up rationing the water by default.” An email to Adani Mining seeking a response on the company's impact on the area went unanswered.

The sarpanch of Salhi village, Seva Ram, is keeping calm in the face of the impending storm. “Not only will we lose our lands, livelihoods, heritage and freedom, but we will be forced to migrate to your cities, in turn crowding them. Do you want that?” he said with an ironic smile.

We welcome your comments at letters@scroll.in.

Priyanshu Gupta	17 फ़र॰ (1 दिन पहले)

The land acquisition law itself needs to be rescued before it can save villages from mining

By amending the land acquisition law through an ordinance, the Modi government has made it harder for people in Chhattisgarh's mining areas to fight displacement.

You cannot reach Kosampalli village without getting your feet wet. The village lies about 50 km to the west of Raigarh town. Once accessible by roads on three sides, it is now nearly marooned, buffeted by two expanding coal mines, which have eaten up all the roads.

The only access to the village lies through the river Kelo. “That is how we reach home every evening after work,” said Bhagwati Bhagat, a resident of Kosampali, “by walking through waters that are knee deep during rainy season.”

The mines that surround Kosampalli are called the Gare-Pelma mines. They are part of the Mand Raigarh coalfield which stretches over several kilometres in the district of Raigarh in forest-rich eastern Chhattisargh. With total reserves of about 19,000 million tonnes of coal, the coalfield is a goldmine. In the late nineties, the private power company, Jindal Power Limited, struck gold when the government allotted two of the blocks for its upcoming thermal power plant in Tamnar.

When the company started the first round of land acquisition for the Tamnar power plant, there was a public hearing with the district collector, representatives of the company and the villagers. “The company brought some people along with them who didn't let the villagers speak,” said Bhagat, who was present at the meet.

Bhagwati Bhagat with her sister-in-law Ramvati Bhagat

Once land was acquired for the power plant, getting land for the coal mines was simple, said Rinchin, an activist who is helping the people of Kosampalli fight the expansion of the mines. The land for the power plant was acquired under the colonial land acquisition law, while the lands surrounding the power plant were leased out for coal mining.

In the first round of land acquisition, one part of the village was taken. The second round cordoned off another portion. When it appeared that the village would be surrounded by coal mines on all sides, people decided they could take it no more. As the protests gained strength, Raigarh was lifted into the wave of unrest sweeping across the Indian countryside, which finally pushed the United Progressive Alliance government into replacing the colonial era land acquisition law of 1894 with the Land Acquisition and Rehabilitation & Resettlement Act of 2013.

But even before the new law could be implemented, the Modi government has amended it through an ordinance. The amendments are likely to come up for legislative approval in the forthcoming budget session.

If passed, what does the amended law hold for the people of Kosampalli and those like them who are being edged out of their lands?

Only one-third of the homes remain in the village of Kosampalli

Passed in September 2013, the new land acquisition law sought to empower local communities by making it mandatory for the government and private companies to seek the consent of 80% of those who stood to lose their land to industrial and infrastructure projects. It also introduced the idea of social impact assessment: that no land could be acquired without first taking into account the impact of the upcoming project on the area and its people. Both the provisions have been done away with.

The Modi government has maintained that consent and social impact assessment would mire projects in needless delays and bureaucracy. Defending the ordinance, it has pointed out that the compensation rates under the new law remain untouched, as does the need to provide for rehabilitation and resettlement of people.

But Sudha Bharadwaj, a lawyer based in Chhattisgarh, argues that without consent, "where is the question of fair compensation?” Bharadwaj is representing the people of Kosampalli in their fight in the High Court against land acquisition by Jindal Power. The case is one among many that she has taken up. "Are they (the government and the companies) scared of social impact assessment because there will be open discussion on the information surrounding the mines?” she asked.

In January 2015, the central government  stopped foreign funding to four environmental organisations who have said to have campaigned against the use of coal as a source of energy or have questioned individual coal mining or coal-based power projects. “When you scrap SIA and stop funding to those organisations that can disseminate independent information about mining and other projects, you have successfully kept all the information hidden,” said Sudeip Shrivastava, a lawyer and activist.

“The main reason for opposition to the land ordinance is that the LARR Act of 2013 was never implemented. So, how do they know that it is not workable?” asked Bharadwaj.

Power plants have transformed the landscape of Raigarh

Simultaneous to the changes made in the land acquisition law are the amendments to the coal mine allocation process. After the Supreme Court cancelled the allocation of more than 200 coal blocks in 2014, holding the process illegal and arbitrary, the government has put up 24 blocks for auctions. The auctions are expected to be wrapped up in March. At the end of the month, the mines would change hands. The clearances given to the mines would be automatically transferred to the new allottee, but not the liabilities, which includes pending disputes and litigation.

“This essentially means that Bhagwat and others, who have filed a case against Jindal Power, would have to file a case against the new allottee all over again," said Rinchin. “Where will they get the resources from?”

Sudha Bharadwaj said the changes to the land and coal laws should be seen together. “After all, the most valuable lands are those that have mineral deposits in them,” she said. “In totality, these ordinances disregard the poor’s constitutional right of owning property.”

From her small hut less than 10 metres away from the edge of the mine, tired of fighting what seems like a losing battle, Bhagwat offers a startling new perspective: the government need not acquire her land at all. People in her village will be forced to move out sometime soon, she said, due to the health hazards of living next to a 

Priyanshu Gupta	10:05 am (10 घंटे पहले)

Another article in this series (for the third consecutive day) this time picking the issue of commercial mining after exploring the points of No-Go & clearances in 1st article and Mining impact & Land Ordinance in second article...... This is turning out to be probably amongst the best coverage of issues with the Coal Ordinance using all the specific examples from Chhattisgarh......

Between the government and private companies, a coal mining town picks the bigger enemy

People living in the coal bearing areas of north Chhattisgarh are opposed to privatisation of coal mining.

Raksha Kumar
Today · 07:30 am

Photo Credit: Raksha Kumar

From where she lives with her four sons, Nirupa Bai can stare down the abyss of the mammoth Kusmunda coal mine which sprawls over 10 square kilometres in Korba district of Chhattisgarh. Not only does she breathe in the soot, but also drinks water that has traces of the mineral.

In 1993, when Nirupa was 24, her father was given Rs 50,000 by South Eastern Coalfields Limited, the government company that runs the Kusmunda mine. SECL acquired the family’s land and did not ask them to move. Twenty years ago, the Kusmunda mine was not even visible from Nirupa’s house in Barkuta village. She married a man in the neighbouring village and moved away.

A year ago, she returned to her father’s house after she separated from her husband and found that their tiny abode is under threat. The mine has now reached their backyard, and neighbours have vacated their pieces of land.

But Nirupa’s family is holding out, in the hope for a better deal from the company. The compensation they got two decades ago has run out. The company has failed to give permanent employment to a member of the family. As per provisions of the Coal Bearing Areas Acquisition and Development Act, 1957, under which the land was acquired, people are expected to vacate their houses only after getting permanent employment in the company. Nirupa’s family has challenged SECL in the high court.

“I am not sure how we will sustain if the house we live in is taken away from us by force,” she said. "Our lawyers say that the government has the right to do so under the law. They explain to us that coal is extracted for national interest. Tell me, don't our interests matter?”

Nirupa Bai, outside her house in Barkuta village

But SECL claims it can no longer provide jobs to the people displaced by its mines. Economic realities have changed. Over two decades, the company’s staff size bloated, which reduced the efficiency and profitability of its mining operations. The troubles in the government coal companies led to the clamour for the privatisation of coal mining.

In the 1990s, the government transferred some coal blocks to private companies, but they were allowed to mine coal only for use in their factories, and not for sale in the market. The transfer of mines further depleted the land available with the government coal companies. As they fell short of meeting production targets, the demand for privatisation of coal mining have only grown louder. The Coal Bill 2014, which is pending in Parliament, has an enabling provision that could open up commercial coal mining to the private sector in the future.

Oddly, despite being locked in battle with SECL over land disputes and rising pollution, people in Korba vehemently oppose the privatisation of coal mining. “When we point out the problems of the government organisations, it does not mean we are asking for privatisation,” said Lakshmi Chauhan, a mining activist.

Many people blame the private sector for the lack of jobs in the government owned coal mines. Few outside the coal mining areas know the extent of work that the government companies have outsourced to private players. “Apart from sensitive jobs like blasting on the mine sites, which requires the use of explosives, almost everything else is outsourced to smaller private companies,” said Gopal Narayan Singh, a senior mechanic at SECL, who is also the president of the trade union.

For instance, in Asia’s largest opencast coal mines in Gevra, owned by SECL, the trucks that transport coal, those that clear the overburden and coal washing are all run by smaller private companies.

This has reduced the capacity of SECL to provide jobs for the displaced villagers. In the mid-80s, when coal mining was not as mechanised, Coal India had a policy of providing one job per displaced farmer. “They needed our hands then,” said Krishna Kumar. “Today, large machines do most of the work, and they need us lesser and lesser.”

Mechanisation has reduced the jobs available in coal mines

Trade union leaders claim the private companies in the mining belt have already tilted the scales against workers. Instead of permanent jobs, workers are hired on short contracts. They are paid lower wages, and they are not allowed to unionise. “We have the tools of forming a trade union and voting in the elections against the state-owned company, but if we allow private firms to take over, we will have no leverage over them at all,” said Singh.

Activists believe that by allowing private players to enter the market to extract coal for profit, as the latest Coal Bill does, the profit-making public sector company Coal India Limited will be pressured to conform to market economics. “This is unfair,” said Chauhan. “The private players do not play by the rules – they pay their employees less, do not ensure safety of their workers and therefore have a leverage to sell coal at a lower rate. This will push CIL out of the market.”

In early September 2014, the government approved the sale of 10% stake in Coal India Limited and some other government-run energy companies. According to the government, the decision to sell off stakes in major public sector enterprises is a way of meeting its fiscal deficit target of 4.1% by March 31.

Trade unions are also opposed to any dilution in the government’s stake in Coal India Limited. In January 2015, they went on a three-day strike against the disinvestment of CIL. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley gave them assurances that the government did not plan to sell off parts of the company.

Anil Swaroop, the coal secretary, maintains that private sector participation in coal mining will be limited. “We do not want to divest CIL,” he said. "We are just keeping in line with the SEBI guidelines on how much stake a public limited company should put out."

Swaroop says that the priority of the government is to reduce the import of coal. “The people of this country have three options in front of them,” he said, “either CIL mines, private Indian companies mine or we import.” He says even though the best option is for CIL to mine, it is better to let Indian private companies mine where it is not possible for the government to step in instead of importing the mineral.

In order to avoid imports, Swaroop says, the total coal production needed in this country is 1.5 billion tonnes by 2020. One billion out of this would come from CIL, according to the estimates by the Ministry of Coal, and the balance 500 from non-CIL mines. India currently imports about 180 million tonnes of coal. “If we manage to mine 1.5 billion, we would not need to import any coal,” he added.

Gevra mines is Asia's largest open cast mine

But those who stand to lose their land to mining fear that the private sector would edge them out of their lands even more unceremoniously. The compensation would be less than that offered by government companies. The government acquires land under the Coal Bearing Act of 1957. The private companies will acquire lands under the Land Acquisition Act, which has been amended in 2014 through an ordinance. This ordinance excludes the need for any social impact assessment on the areas to be mined.

“If there is no one to assess what impact a mine in the neighbourhood can have, on what basis do you compensate the evacuees?” asked Sudha Bharadwaj, a lawyer and activist. “Therefore, they will no longer acquire lands from the poor farmers, they would just buy them off with no responsibility taken after that.”

In the neighbouring district of Raigarh, where there are large reserves of coal, nearly a dozen coal mines had been allotted to private companies. But those companies will have to give up the mines on March 31 abiding by the 2014 Supreme Court order which cancelled all mine allocations made since 1993, holding them illegal and arbitrary.

In Raigarh, many people said they wanted government companies to bag the mines in the auction that is taking place in Delhi. “People here say they will distribute sweets jubilantly if SECL comes in, instead of any of the private guys,” said Rinchin, an activist who works extensively with the villagers of Kosampalli.

Beyond their narrow concerns over compensation and jobs, people also invoke larger principles of the ownership and control of a country’s natural resources. Prem Jasiwal, 35, has 15 acres of thick mango groves that uncomfortably embrace Gevra mines. “It is just a matter of time,” he said. “But if I have to give up the land of my ancestors, I would rather give it for the nation than place it in the hands of private companies.”

Prem Jaiswal stands to lose his 15 acres of mango groves to a coal mine