NAPM extends solidarity to local communities protesting against the proposed Madanpur South coal mine in Hasdeo Aranya region of Chhattisgarh
Union Ministry of Coal notification to acquire more than 700 hectares of forest and Adivasi land under Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition & Development) Act, 1957 is a blatant attempt to bypass public consultation provisions under multiple central laws including PESA, 1996; FRA, 2006; EIA Notification, 2006; and RFCTLARR, 2013
Government must respect constitutional powers of adivasi gram sabhas demanding withdrawal of the land acquisition notification and recognise their right over community forest resources
20th February: 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 24 December 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.
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, ten 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 11 February, 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.
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.
Medha Patkar, Narmada Bachao Andolan (NBA) and National Alliance of People’s Movements (NAPM); Dr. Sunilam, Adv. Aradhna Bhargava, Kisan Sangharsh Samiti; Rajkumar Sinha, Chutka Parmaanu Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti, NAPM, Madhya Pradesh;
Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey, Shankar Singh, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), National Campaign for People’s Right to Information; Kavita Srivastava, People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL); Kailash Meena NAPM Rajasthan;
Prafulla Samantara, Lok Shakti Abhiyan; Lingraj Azad, Samajwadi Jan Parishad & Niyamgiri Suraksha Samiti, Manorama, Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti; Lingaraj Pradhan, Satya Banchor, Anant, Kalyan Anand, Arun Jena, Trilochan Punji, Lakshimipriya Mohanty and Balakrishna Sand, Manas Patnaik, NAPM Odisha;
Sandeep Pandey (Socialist Party of India); Richa Singh & Rambeti (Sangatin Kisaan Mazdoor Sangathan, Sitapur); Rajeev Yadav & Masihuddin bhai (Rihai Manch, Lucknow & Azamgadh); Arundhati Dhuru & Zainab Khatun (Mahila Yuva Adhikar Manch, Lucknow), Suresh Rathaur (MNREGA Mazdoor Union, Varanasi); Arvind Murti & Altamas Ansari (Inquilabi Kamgaar Union, Mau), Jagriti Rahi (Vision Sansthan, Varanasi); Satish Singh (Sarvodayi Vikas Samiti, Varanasi); Nakul Singh Sawney (Chal Chitra Abhiyan, Muzaffarnagar); NAPM Uttar Pradesh
P. Chennaiah, Andhra Pradesh Vyavasaya Vruthidarula Union-APVVU, Ramakrishnam Raju, United Forum for RTI and NAPM, Chakri (Samalochana), Balu Gadi, Bapji Juvvala, NAPM Andhra Pradesh;
Jeevan Kumar & Syed Bilal (Human Rights Forum), P. Shankar (Dalit Bahujan Front), Vissa Kiran Kumar & Kondal (Rythu Swarajya Vedika), Ravi Kanneganti (Rythu JAC), Ashalatha (MAKAAM), Krishna (Telangana Vidyavantula Vedika-TVV), M. Venkatayya (Telangana Vyavasaya Vruttidarula Union-TVVU), Meera Sanghamitra, NAPM Telangana;
Sister Celia, Domestic Workers Union; Maj Gen (Retd) S.G.Vombatkere, NAPM, Nalini Gowda, KRRS, Nawaz, Dwiji Guru, Nalini, Madhu Bhushan and Mamatha Yajaman, Susheela, Shashank, NAPM Karnataka
Gabriele Dietrich, Penn Urimay Iyakkam, Madurai; Geetha Ramakrishnan, Unorganised Sector Workers Federation; Suthanthiran, Lenin, Inamul Hasan, Arul Doss, Vikash NAPM Tamilnadu;
Vilayodi Venugopal, CR Neelakandan, Prof. Kusumam Joseph, Sharath Cheloor, Vijayaraghavan Cheliya, Majeendran, Magline, NAPM, Kerala;
Dayamani Barla, Aadivasi-Moolnivasi Astivtva Raksha Samiti; Basant Hetamsaria, Aloka Kujur, Dr. Leo A. Singh, Afzal Anish, Sushma Biruli, Durga Nayak, Jipal Murmu, Priti Ranjan Dash, Ashok Verma, NAPM Jharkhand;
Anand Mazgaonkar, Swati Desai, Krishnakant, Parth, Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti; Nita Mahadev, Mudita, Lok Samiti; Dev Desai, Mujahid Nafees, Ramesh Tadvi and Bharat Jambucha, NAPM Gujarat;
Vimal Bhai, Matu Jan sangathan; Jabar Singh, Uma, NAPM, Uttarakhand;
Manshi Asher and Himshi Singh, Himdhara, NAPM Himachal Pradesh
Eric Pinto, Abhijeet, Tania Devaiah, Caroline, Diana Tavers, Emil, Francesca, NAPM Goa
Gautam Bandopadhyay, Nadi Ghati Morcha; Kaladas Dahariya, RELAA, Alok Shukla, Shalini Gera, NAPM Chhattisgarh; and Amod
Samar Bagchi, Amitava Mitra, Binayak Sen, Sujato Bhadro, Pradip Chatterjee, Pasarul Alam, Amitava Mitra, Tapas Das, Tahomina Mandal, Pabitra Mandal, Kazi Md. Sherif, Biswajit Basak, Ayesha Khatun, Rupak Mukherjee, Milan Das, Asit Roy, Mita Bhatta, Yasin, Matiur Rahman, Baiwajit Basa, NAPM West Bengal;
Suniti SR, Sanjay M G, Suhas Kolhekar, Prasad Bagwe, Mukta Srivastava, Yuvraj Gatkal, Geetanjali Chavan, Bilal Khan, Jameela, Ghar Bachao Ghar Banao Andolan; Chetan Salve, Narmada Bachao Andolan, Pervin Jehangir, NAPM Maharashtra;
J S Walia, NAPM Haryana; Guruwant Singh, Narbinder Singh, NAPM Punjab;
Kamayani Swami, Ashish Ranjan, Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan; Mahendra Yadav, Kosi Navnirman Manch; NAPM Bihar;
Rajendra Ravi, NAPM; Bhupender Singh Rawat, Jan Sangharsh Vahini; Anjali Bharadwaj and Amrita Johri, Satark Nagrik Sangathan; Sanjeev Kumar, Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch; Anita Kapoor, Delhi Shahri Mahila Kaamgaar Union; Sunita Rani, National Domestic Workers Union; Nanhu Prasad, National Cyclist Union; Madhuresh Kumar, Priya Pillai, Aryaman Jain, Divyansh Khurana, Evita Das; Anil TV, Delhi Solidarity Group, MJ Vijayan (PIPFPD)
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