 "Black hole")
Shankarlal Dansena had always planned to settle in Dharamjaigarh in Chhattisgarh's Raigarh district after his retirement. He liked its laidback ways and he loved the green look of the sleepy town, the abundance of deciduous trees there. That is why he moved there from the neighbouring town of Kharsia. The retired schoolteacher, now in this 70s and a resident of Dharamjaigarh for a decade, wishes he could reverse that decision.
"I sold my entire property in Kharsia and invested the money in constructing a house and a shop in the heart of town where my son Mithesh could run a computer service centre," says Dansena with some bitterness.
The reason for Dansena's despair lies below Dharamjaigarh town. There is a rich reserve of 120 million tonne (MT) of coal in the five seams that pass under the town, part of the estimated 19,000 MT reserves spanning 520 sq km in the Mand-Raigarh coalfield. And now that the reserves at Dharamjaigarh have been parceled out for mining to two companies, the town of 18,000 people stares at an ominous future. Of the 15 wards in the town, 12 will vanish once the black diamond blocks are developed for open-cast mining. The field has a potential for the mining of power-grade coal, much of which has to be extracted through open mining.
Likely to become the first town to fall a victim to a coal mine, there is all-round resentment. The open mining will kill the town, with two coal blocks - Shahpur-Durgapur and Durgapur/Saria - covering more than 70 per cent of Dharamjaigarh. The people also know they will not gain economically from the plans. No power plant is coming up in the locality. The mined coal will be taken elsewhere.
Amit Kataria, who was till his recent transfer the district collector of Raigarh, says there is no sign that the town will cease to exist if the coal mines are developed. "How can the district administration allow a town to die when it has taken up a number of projects to develop infrastructure in Dharamjaigarh?" he asks.
The state-run South Eastern Coalfield Ltd (SECL) - a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd (CIL) - has been allotted Shahpur-Durgapur, while DB Power - a company promoted by media house Dainik Bhaskar Group -will mine the Durgapur/Saria block. A spokesperson of SECL claims that the block allotted to the company is located about 1.5 km from the town. "It is incorrect to say that the town will vanish because of SECL, but we are not sure of other companies," the spokesperson says.
DB Power did not respond to the queries sent for its version on the issue. It has apparently filed an affidavit with the local authorities promising "it will not perform mining operations in the limits of Dharamjaigarh Nagar Palika", according to Dheerendra Maliya, teacher at the town's Dr BSP Tribal College. But the anti-mining activist adds that experts say it is not possible for DB Power to exclude the entire town as that would make the project unviable for the company. Of the 91 MT reserve that the company can mine, 34 MT lie within town limits. DB Power hopes to extract 2 MT annually to fuel its 1320 MW thermal power plant coming up in the adjoining district of Champa-Janjgir.
Ramesh Agarwal, director of Raigarh-based NGO Jan Chetana, argues, "If DB Power was serious about saving Dharamjaigarh, it should have submitted revised mining plans and a new environmental impact assessment (EIA)." The company had sought environment clearance based on the earlier mining plan, which included the town in its EIA. But despite its claims that it would not mine within the town limits, no new clearances have been sought.
Interestingly, the "Save Dharamjaigarh" campaign is spearheaded not by environment or social activists, but by a motley group that includes church priests and college professors. Maliya is a geography teacher, for instance. It was sometime in March 2011 that Maliya attended a public hearing convened for the environment clearance for a coal block. "There I found that when opposing the project, the townfolk failed to raise technical issues," recalls Maliya.
Maliya realised that people were ill-informed about the basics of mines and mining and decided to launch a public-awareness campaign. To ensure the people, mostly the tribes, understood the nitty-gritty, he decided to use slides and pictures. People thronged the places where Maliya screened his show. He became a rallying figure for social-environment activists. "My fight is not against any company or individual, it is only to save our town," says Maliya.
Father Ranjit Kirketta, pastor of the local church, took upon himself the task of mobilising support against the projects. "Many religious places, including the biggest church in the town, will be reduced to rubble," he says. The people have made their feelings known. They are not going to give up their land and homes at any cost. They will probably recall their history to inspire them in their fight.
Earlier known as Udaipur, Dharamjaigarh was a princely state headed by a zamindar, Kalyan Singh. In 1852, the British indicted Singh and his two brothers on charges of narbali (human sacrifice) and jailed them in Ranchi. When the 1857 revolt broke out, Singh's brothers Dheeraj and Shivraj escaped from jail and reached Udaipur. They regained control of Udaipur, and started collecting tax after ordering the people not to pay tax to the British. The then district commissioner of Chhota Nagpur, Colonel Edward Tuite Dalton directed the people to stop paying tax to Dheeraj, who had become zamindar. But the people defied Dalton and stood behind their leader. Later, in 1859, British forces invaded Udaipur and arrested Shivraj, who had become zamindar after Dheeraj's death. He was tried for revolting against the state and sent to the penal colony of the Andamans.
Presumably, the people will look back at these events from their history and protect their turf from "outsiders".
"I sold my entire property in Kharsia and invested the money in constructing a house and a shop in the heart of town where my son Mithesh could run a computer service centre," says Dansena with some bitterness.
The reason for Dansena's despair lies below Dharamjaigarh town. There is a rich reserve of 120 million tonne (MT) of coal in the five seams that pass under the town, part of the estimated 19,000 MT reserves spanning 520 sq km in the Mand-Raigarh coalfield. And now that the reserves at Dharamjaigarh have been parceled out for mining to two companies, the town of 18,000 people stares at an ominous future. Of the 15 wards in the town, 12 will vanish once the black diamond blocks are developed for open-cast mining. The field has a potential for the mining of power-grade coal, much of which has to be extracted through open mining.
Likely to become the first town to fall a victim to a coal mine, there is all-round resentment. The open mining will kill the town, with two coal blocks - Shahpur-Durgapur and Durgapur/Saria - covering more than 70 per cent of Dharamjaigarh. The people also know they will not gain economically from the plans. No power plant is coming up in the locality. The mined coal will be taken elsewhere.
Amit Kataria, who was till his recent transfer the district collector of Raigarh, says there is no sign that the town will cease to exist if the coal mines are developed. "How can the district administration allow a town to die when it has taken up a number of projects to develop infrastructure in Dharamjaigarh?" he asks.
| FACING POPULAR IRE * South Eastern Coalfield Ltd (SECL) is a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd (CIL), the country's largest coal-producing company. It has been allotted 92 mines in the Mand-Raigarh coal block, including Shahpur-Durgapur in Dharamjaigarh. Of the eight CIL subsidiaries, SECL returns the highest profit. In 2011-12, SECL produced 113.84 MT of CIL's total coal production of 435.84 MT. |
* DB Power Ltd, promoted by the Dainik Bhaskar media group, is a new player in the power sector. The company is setting up its first power plant in Chhattisgarh's Janjgir-Champa district to produce 1320 MW of power. DB Power has been allotted Durgapur/Saria coal block near Dharamjaigarh to feed that plant.
The state-run South Eastern Coalfield Ltd (SECL) - a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd (CIL) - has been allotted Shahpur-Durgapur, while DB Power - a company promoted by media house Dainik Bhaskar Group -will mine the Durgapur/Saria block. A spokesperson of SECL claims that the block allotted to the company is located about 1.5 km from the town. "It is incorrect to say that the town will vanish because of SECL, but we are not sure of other companies," the spokesperson says.
DB Power did not respond to the queries sent for its version on the issue. It has apparently filed an affidavit with the local authorities promising "it will not perform mining operations in the limits of Dharamjaigarh Nagar Palika", according to Dheerendra Maliya, teacher at the town's Dr BSP Tribal College. But the anti-mining activist adds that experts say it is not possible for DB Power to exclude the entire town as that would make the project unviable for the company. Of the 91 MT reserve that the company can mine, 34 MT lie within town limits. DB Power hopes to extract 2 MT annually to fuel its 1320 MW thermal power plant coming up in the adjoining district of Champa-Janjgir.
* * * * *
DB Power's "commitment to spare the town" is only a strategy to pacify the people and start the operation of mines, say agitated social activists. During the public hearings on the matter, not a single inhabitant supported DB Power. Doesn't that speak for itself, they ask. "The displacement of an entire town as compared to a village will make a big buzz," says Alok Shukla, Convenor of Chhattisgarh Bachao Aandolan. "Hence, the company wants to cool down the popular sentiment by leaving the town untouched initially, but later they will expand the operation to consume the entire area," he forecasts.Ramesh Agarwal, director of Raigarh-based NGO Jan Chetana, argues, "If DB Power was serious about saving Dharamjaigarh, it should have submitted revised mining plans and a new environmental impact assessment (EIA)." The company had sought environment clearance based on the earlier mining plan, which included the town in its EIA. But despite its claims that it would not mine within the town limits, no new clearances have been sought.
Interestingly, the "Save Dharamjaigarh" campaign is spearheaded not by environment or social activists, but by a motley group that includes church priests and college professors. Maliya is a geography teacher, for instance. It was sometime in March 2011 that Maliya attended a public hearing convened for the environment clearance for a coal block. "There I found that when opposing the project, the townfolk failed to raise technical issues," recalls Maliya.
Maliya realised that people were ill-informed about the basics of mines and mining and decided to launch a public-awareness campaign. To ensure the people, mostly the tribes, understood the nitty-gritty, he decided to use slides and pictures. People thronged the places where Maliya screened his show. He became a rallying figure for social-environment activists. "My fight is not against any company or individual, it is only to save our town," says Maliya.
Father Ranjit Kirketta, pastor of the local church, took upon himself the task of mobilising support against the projects. "Many religious places, including the biggest church in the town, will be reduced to rubble," he says. The people have made their feelings known. They are not going to give up their land and homes at any cost. They will probably recall their history to inspire them in their fight.
Earlier known as Udaipur, Dharamjaigarh was a princely state headed by a zamindar, Kalyan Singh. In 1852, the British indicted Singh and his two brothers on charges of narbali (human sacrifice) and jailed them in Ranchi. When the 1857 revolt broke out, Singh's brothers Dheeraj and Shivraj escaped from jail and reached Udaipur. They regained control of Udaipur, and started collecting tax after ordering the people not to pay tax to the British. The then district commissioner of Chhota Nagpur, Colonel Edward Tuite Dalton directed the people to stop paying tax to Dheeraj, who had become zamindar. But the people defied Dalton and stood behind their leader. Later, in 1859, British forces invaded Udaipur and arrested Shivraj, who had become zamindar after Dheeraj's death. He was tried for revolting against the state and sent to the penal colony of the Andamans.
Presumably, the people will look back at these events from their history and protect their turf from "outsiders".