Sanjay Parate
This is a farce of our times that on one hand Modi government is running BJP sponsored 'One tree for mother' campaign with deafening noise of 'Jai Shri Ram', on the other hand it is preparing to transfer the forest of Hasdeo to Adani. Keeping all the rules and regulations aside, environmental hearing is being held on 2nd August to hand over the third coal block, Kete Extension, to Adani. More than 8 lakh trees are expected to be cut for this mine. So many trees will not be planted even by BJP workers in the entire state.
Seven months ago, there was a Congress government in both Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. At that time, the Rajasthan government was trying its best to acquire the forests of Hasdeo for Adani. The then Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Bhupesh Baghel, was also eager to brighten Rajasthan and had started the felling of Hasdeo under the protection of the state. But due to the vocal opposition of the tribals of Hasdeo and the people of the state and the unity of environment-loving people from all over the world, he had to stop the felling. Against this state-sponsored felling, the people of entire Chhattisgarh united in thousands and organized 'March to Hasdeo'. The then opposition BJP also opposed this felling.
Today there is a BJP government in both Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Now the BJP government of Rajasthan wants the Hasdeo forest for Adani and now the BJP government of Chhattisgarh is eager to welcome Adani with open arms and the opposition Congress is pretending to oppose him. Whether it is Congress or BJP in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, nothing changes for Adani.
Adani already has two coal mines operational in the Hasdeo region of Chhattisgarh -- Parsa and Parsa East Kete Basan (PEKB). Both these mines are spread over an area of about 10,000 acres. The Hasdeo forests are called the lungs of central India and those who are familiar with the biodiversity of the Hasdeo forests in India, its environmental importance and its socio-economic utility for the tribal community residing here, can easily imagine how much damage has already been done to the bio-ecology due to these two mines and how much the tribal community has had to suffer the immense pain of displacement. Not a single promise made to the tribal community while starting these two mines has been fulfilled yet.
Now Adani wants a third mine spread over more than 4400 acres in the name of mine expansion. If this is approved, more than 8 lakh trees standing for hundreds of years in 4350 acres of dense forest area will be destroyed. Along with this, dozens of villages will be in the grip of displacement and loss of livelihood.
Environmental hearing illegal
But the environmental hearing for Kete Extension mine is illegal because the environmental impact assessment on the basis of which this hearing is going to be held was released in March 2021. According to the rules of the Ministry of Environment, this report is so old that public hearing cannot be held on its basis. But if the Environment Protection Board of Chhattisgarh is conducting the hearing on this basis, then you can understand where from its illegal act has got the green signal.
Even if we leave aside the stand of the Environment Board, there is no other factor that can make this public hearing valid. Both the State Forest Department and the Mineral Resource Department have opposed this mining project and have also registered their objection to the process of land acquisition for the mine expansion. This project falls within 10 km radius of the Lemru Elephant Reserve and this reserve area has also been notified in the Chhattisgarh Gazette on 22 October 2021. Now it is a 'no go area'. The Wildlife Institute of India also reports that promoting any mining project in Hasdeo will have an 'irreversible' impact on the environment and ecology of this area and the human-elephant conflict will increase due to the elephant corridor being affected. Along with this, due to this mine, the 10,000 sq km catchment area of the Hasdeo river will also be affected, which will also endanger the existence of various water sources and the Bango Dam. This will endanger the water supply for the agricultural and industrial sectors, thereby endangering the livelihood and survival of 50 lakh people.
In view of all these reasons, on 26 July 2022, the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly unanimously passed a resolution to cancel all the coal mines proposed in Hasdeo Aranya. The Chhattisgarh state government has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that the Parsa East Kete Basan mine can meet the needs of the Rajasthan government for the next twenty years.
Thus, this public hearing is being conducted by the BJP Government by ignoring all these reports and in violation of the resolution of the Legislative Assembly and the affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, by which it is still constitutionally bound.
Story of loot by Adani
According to the Central Electricity Authority, Rajasthan had a demand of 18,128 MW of electricity in January 2024. Rajasthan's total power generation capacity is 40,209 MW, which includes 26,815 MW of power generation capacity from solar energy. The capacity of coal-based power plants in the state is only 9200 MW. In terms of electricity, the Rajasthan government has set a target of becoming completely self-sufficient by producing one lakh MW of electricity from solar energy alone by the year 2030 and selling the excess electricity to other states of the country. According to the central government, it is making progress in this matter. In view of these facts, the affidavit given by the then Congress government in the Supreme Court is credible that the needs of the Rajasthan government for the next twenty years can be met from the Parsa East Kete Basan mine. Then why is the Rajasthan government adamant on another coal mine?
This story ends with Adani looting coal. The main provision of the contract through which Rajasthan government has handed over the coal mining work to Adani is that Rajasthan government will not accept coal below 4000 calories per kilogram from Adani to run its power plants and Adani will remove and dispose of the low quality rejected coal. The entire scam is hidden in this contract, because the average quality of coal used in government and private power plants in Chhattisgarh and other parts of the country is 3400 calories per kilogram. Private industries of Chhattisgarh take coal of quality up to 2200 calories from SECL.
In 2022, the Railways informed an RTI activist DK Soni with documents that in 2021 itself, Adani had transported 29.58 lakh tonnes of rejected coal from Parsa Kete mines, which is 26.6% of the total coal transport by rail. This coal is being available to Adani for free, which he is using to run his power plants and sell to private industries. The entire story of coal theft by Adani was exposed on the front page of the state's famous evening daily 'Chhattisgarh' in its issue of 22 December 2022.
The annual production capacity of Parsa Kete mines is 150 lakh tonnes. If the amount of rejected coal is considered to be only 26.6%, then the total amount of rejected coal comes to about 40 lakh tonnes. Adani is using 60% of this rejected coal for its own power plants. At present, the average price of non-imported coal in the open market is Rs. 7000 per tonne and at this rate the value of rejected coal is Rs 2800 crore! And this loot is only of the year 2021, whereas Adani has been mining here since the year 2013. In the last 10 years, Adani, in connivance with the pro-corporate government of the Center and the state, has looted 4 crore tonnes of coal worth Rs 28000 crore from only one mine in Chhattisgarh! The mining of PEKB mine was to be done till the year 2028, but due to his greed for loot, Adani dug up the entire mine by the year 2022 itself and now he is demanding extension for the third mine.
It is also worth mentioning here that Coal India sells its coal at the rate of Rs 3405 per tonne, while the Rajasthan government buys coal of government mines from Adani at the rate of Rs 3915. This difference is Rs 510 per tonne. In the year 2021, the Rajasthan government bought 81.63 lakh tonnes of coal, which gave Adani an additional profit of Rs 416.28 crore. The loss incurred by Rajasthan in the last ten years amounts to about Rs 4163 crore. This is also a big reason for the people of Rajasthan getting expensive electricity.
This loot of coal by Adani in Chhattisgarh is just a small example of the corporate loot of natural resources in the state from Bastar to Surguja. Only the united struggle of the common people can stop this loot. On August 2, there will be sharp opposition from the tribal people of that area in the environmental hearing of Kete Extension mine. In this connection, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha has also announced to organize a public convention this month on the slogan "Adani - Chhattisgarh Chhodo.
The author is an independent writer on politics, social and agrarian issues. The views are personal.
Seven months ago, there was a Congress government in both Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. At that time, the Rajasthan government was trying its best to acquire the forests of Hasdeo for Adani. The then Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, Bhupesh Baghel, was also eager to brighten Rajasthan and had started the felling of Hasdeo under the protection of the state. But due to the vocal opposition of the tribals of Hasdeo and the people of the state and the unity of environment-loving people from all over the world, he had to stop the felling. Against this state-sponsored felling, the people of entire Chhattisgarh united in thousands and organized 'March to Hasdeo'. The then opposition BJP also opposed this felling.
Today there is a BJP government in both Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. Now the BJP government of Rajasthan wants the Hasdeo forest for Adani and now the BJP government of Chhattisgarh is eager to welcome Adani with open arms and the opposition Congress is pretending to oppose him. Whether it is Congress or BJP in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, nothing changes for Adani.
Adani already has two coal mines operational in the Hasdeo region of Chhattisgarh -- Parsa and Parsa East Kete Basan (PEKB). Both these mines are spread over an area of about 10,000 acres. The Hasdeo forests are called the lungs of central India and those who are familiar with the biodiversity of the Hasdeo forests in India, its environmental importance and its socio-economic utility for the tribal community residing here, can easily imagine how much damage has already been done to the bio-ecology due to these two mines and how much the tribal community has had to suffer the immense pain of displacement. Not a single promise made to the tribal community while starting these two mines has been fulfilled yet.
Now Adani wants a third mine spread over more than 4400 acres in the name of mine expansion. If this is approved, more than 8 lakh trees standing for hundreds of years in 4350 acres of dense forest area will be destroyed. Along with this, dozens of villages will be in the grip of displacement and loss of livelihood.
Environmental hearing illegal
But the environmental hearing for Kete Extension mine is illegal because the environmental impact assessment on the basis of which this hearing is going to be held was released in March 2021. According to the rules of the Ministry of Environment, this report is so old that public hearing cannot be held on its basis. But if the Environment Protection Board of Chhattisgarh is conducting the hearing on this basis, then you can understand where from its illegal act has got the green signal.
Even if we leave aside the stand of the Environment Board, there is no other factor that can make this public hearing valid. Both the State Forest Department and the Mineral Resource Department have opposed this mining project and have also registered their objection to the process of land acquisition for the mine expansion. This project falls within 10 km radius of the Lemru Elephant Reserve and this reserve area has also been notified in the Chhattisgarh Gazette on 22 October 2021. Now it is a 'no go area'. The Wildlife Institute of India also reports that promoting any mining project in Hasdeo will have an 'irreversible' impact on the environment and ecology of this area and the human-elephant conflict will increase due to the elephant corridor being affected. Along with this, due to this mine, the 10,000 sq km catchment area of the Hasdeo river will also be affected, which will also endanger the existence of various water sources and the Bango Dam. This will endanger the water supply for the agricultural and industrial sectors, thereby endangering the livelihood and survival of 50 lakh people.
In view of all these reasons, on 26 July 2022, the Chhattisgarh Legislative Assembly unanimously passed a resolution to cancel all the coal mines proposed in Hasdeo Aranya. The Chhattisgarh state government has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court stating that the Parsa East Kete Basan mine can meet the needs of the Rajasthan government for the next twenty years.
Thus, this public hearing is being conducted by the BJP Government by ignoring all these reports and in violation of the resolution of the Legislative Assembly and the affidavit filed in the Supreme Court, by which it is still constitutionally bound.
Story of loot by Adani
According to the Central Electricity Authority, Rajasthan had a demand of 18,128 MW of electricity in January 2024. Rajasthan's total power generation capacity is 40,209 MW, which includes 26,815 MW of power generation capacity from solar energy. The capacity of coal-based power plants in the state is only 9200 MW. In terms of electricity, the Rajasthan government has set a target of becoming completely self-sufficient by producing one lakh MW of electricity from solar energy alone by the year 2030 and selling the excess electricity to other states of the country. According to the central government, it is making progress in this matter. In view of these facts, the affidavit given by the then Congress government in the Supreme Court is credible that the needs of the Rajasthan government for the next twenty years can be met from the Parsa East Kete Basan mine. Then why is the Rajasthan government adamant on another coal mine?
This story ends with Adani looting coal. The main provision of the contract through which Rajasthan government has handed over the coal mining work to Adani is that Rajasthan government will not accept coal below 4000 calories per kilogram from Adani to run its power plants and Adani will remove and dispose of the low quality rejected coal. The entire scam is hidden in this contract, because the average quality of coal used in government and private power plants in Chhattisgarh and other parts of the country is 3400 calories per kilogram. Private industries of Chhattisgarh take coal of quality up to 2200 calories from SECL.
In 2022, the Railways informed an RTI activist DK Soni with documents that in 2021 itself, Adani had transported 29.58 lakh tonnes of rejected coal from Parsa Kete mines, which is 26.6% of the total coal transport by rail. This coal is being available to Adani for free, which he is using to run his power plants and sell to private industries. The entire story of coal theft by Adani was exposed on the front page of the state's famous evening daily 'Chhattisgarh' in its issue of 22 December 2022.
The annual production capacity of Parsa Kete mines is 150 lakh tonnes. If the amount of rejected coal is considered to be only 26.6%, then the total amount of rejected coal comes to about 40 lakh tonnes. Adani is using 60% of this rejected coal for its own power plants. At present, the average price of non-imported coal in the open market is Rs. 7000 per tonne and at this rate the value of rejected coal is Rs 2800 crore! And this loot is only of the year 2021, whereas Adani has been mining here since the year 2013. In the last 10 years, Adani, in connivance with the pro-corporate government of the Center and the state, has looted 4 crore tonnes of coal worth Rs 28000 crore from only one mine in Chhattisgarh! The mining of PEKB mine was to be done till the year 2028, but due to his greed for loot, Adani dug up the entire mine by the year 2022 itself and now he is demanding extension for the third mine.
It is also worth mentioning here that Coal India sells its coal at the rate of Rs 3405 per tonne, while the Rajasthan government buys coal of government mines from Adani at the rate of Rs 3915. This difference is Rs 510 per tonne. In the year 2021, the Rajasthan government bought 81.63 lakh tonnes of coal, which gave Adani an additional profit of Rs 416.28 crore. The loss incurred by Rajasthan in the last ten years amounts to about Rs 4163 crore. This is also a big reason for the people of Rajasthan getting expensive electricity.
This loot of coal by Adani in Chhattisgarh is just a small example of the corporate loot of natural resources in the state from Bastar to Surguja. Only the united struggle of the common people can stop this loot. On August 2, there will be sharp opposition from the tribal people of that area in the environmental hearing of Kete Extension mine. In this connection, the Samyukt Kisan Morcha has also announced to organize a public convention this month on the slogan "Adani - Chhattisgarh Chhodo.
The author is an independent writer on politics, social and agrarian issues. The views are personal.
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