For over a month now, the area around the Deocha Pachami coal mine near the tribal majority village of Chanda in West Bengal’s Birbhum district has been looking like a fortress – a battery of armed policemen and the Rapid Action Force stand guard in makeshift tents as earthmovers pile soil and clay on to waiting trucks, which dump them some 100 yards away.
The 326-acre area near Chanda village at Deocha Pachami is part of a 12.3 sq.km coal block under the state government’s flagship mining project — first for basalt and then coal. Inaugurated by the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government in 2016 and allocated by the Centre in 2019, the Deocha Pachami (Deucha- Pachami- Dewangunj -Harisingha) coal project is under the Mohammad Bazar Block of Birbhum.
Work on the first phase of the initiative began on February 6, a day after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced its commencement at the 8th Bengal Global Business Summit in Kolkata. However, the project, considered India’s largest coal block, has divided Chanda and neighbouring villages: while it finds support from a section of residents, there are also fears of how the loss of land could upend lives.
The main concern, according to residents, is that it would be an open cast – and not an underground – mine. While open cast mining is a technique that extracts minerals from an open pit, underground mining refers to a method where tunnels are made below the surface. Those opposing the project fear that an open cast mine would mean mass evictions.
“The state government must talk to us directly,” Dhani Murmu, 30, says. Dhani and her husband work in stone crushing units – an occupation followed by a large group of people in the area known for its stone quarries.
On March 19, the West Bengal Power Development Corporation Limited (WBPDCL) — the nodal agency for the project — called a meeting of various tribal outfits. The meeting saw only a section of leaders attend.
Both WBPDCL and district authorities have so far maintained there would be no forced evictions and that it will be an underground mine.
“Only 12 acres of 326 acres (first phase) is used as open cast mining on an experimental basis to lift basalt. The area has been chosen since there is no human habitat,” WBPDCL’s letter calling for the March 19 meeting said.
Local authorities too have tried to allay fears. “Some villagers protested, but we have reached out to them by setting up (outreach) camps for their grievances to be heard. Some don’t have proper land papers and have submitted applications, which are being processed,” Bidhan Roy, the district magistrate of Birbhum, says.
However, the police claim that they were looking at the role of outsiders in the protests against the project. The protests, held in March, had led to all work ceasing on the mining project for two days.
“Currently, the situation is normal. However, we are looking into the role of outsiders spreading misinformation in the area. Any mischief will be dealt with in accordance with the law,” Birbhum Superintendent of Police Amandeep Singh says.
Spread over 12.3 sq km, the Deocha Pachami block is estimated to hold 1,240 million tonnes of coal reserves and 260 million tonnes of basalt.
While announcing the start of work on February 5, Banerjee said her government had secured the environmental clearances needed for the project. The first phase is mining basalt, a volcanic rock with wide applications — from textiles to construction.
Twenty-one mostly tribal-majority villages – including Chanda — are expected to be affected by the project, which is estimated to be on 3,400 acres of land, of which 1,200 belongs to the government.
Although the protests began hours after Banerjee’s announcement, things came to a head on March 3, when a group of local village residents placed the ‘Charkha’ — a tribal tradition of sticking symbolic sticks or bamboo into the ground to mark an area where no outsiders are allowed to enter – to force work to cease.
By the time work resumed on March 5, there was already heavy police deployment on the ground, with the district administration holding outreach camps to help mollify protesters.
According to government sources, 1,600 of 7,000 applicants from the project have got jobs and compensation — 1,100 in the local police force while 500 in Group D jobs in government services.
But given that several applications are still pending, many protesters appear sceptical.
“We didn’t get jobs. Even among those who have, only one family member was employed. Giving a job to only one man or woman (of a family) will not suffice, especially since there are 5-6 youths in the family,” Saro Murmu, 20, says.
In the neighboring Dhanapara village, 28-year-old Aarti Soren echoes the sentiment. Her fear is compounded by the lack of requisite land records.
“Many of us do not have proper land papers and we fear we will just be evicted,” she says.
The government is now holding camps to help residents rectify land records. A total of 1,000 such applications are being processed, sources said.
But with impasse still continuing, tribal outfits are intensifying protests: a rally under the umbrella banner ‘Jal Jangal Jami o Adivasi Banchao Andolon (Save Water Forest Land and tribal agitation)’ in Kolkata saw 300 participants.
Sushil Murmu, the president of the Paschim Banga Gram Sabha Samannay Hul Committee – one of the outfits spearheading the protests, accuses the state government of “misleading people”.
“Tribals will be evicted (if the project continues,” he says. “This has happened in other projects in other states such as Jharkhand and Odisha, and we won’t allow this to happen here.”
Despite this, however, the mining project seems to be gaining support — especially among those who have already secured compensation and jobs. On the day of the protests against the coal mine, a group of prom-mining protesters rallied in Birbhum district and submitted a memorandum to the district magistrate showing their support.
Among the people in support of the project is Kabirul Islam, a resident of Chanda village whose 1.5 bigha of land was acquired for the project.
“My wife got a job as a junior constable and we got compensation. Why should we have a problem with the project? The actual problem is that many don’t have proper land records and fear that they won’t get jobs or compensation as a result. They are the ones protesting,” he says.
In Alinagar, 31-year-old Atahar Ali got Rs 3.37 lakh for 0.21 bighas of land and a job in the police force. His solution: more jobs to those losing land.
“Four of my relatives also got jobs and money. However, it’s true that some people are protesting because they don’t have proper land papers. The government should look into it and give more jobs,” he says.
On his part, TMC MP Samirul Islam, who belongs to Birbhum, believes the priority of the state government is helping residents rectify these land records.
“I personally visited the villages and tried to talk to residents,” he said. “The state government will also go for a fresh land survey in the area to see if villagers are facing difficulty regarding land papers. They will be helped,” Islam says.
Calls and messages to WBPDCL officials went unanswered. Meanwhile, the Opposition claims there is a lack of transparency in the project.
“First, there are doubts about the viability of the project. Second, what is happening inside Deocha Pachami, no one knows. The state government seems to be hiding something. They have given jobs only to a handful of people,” BJP Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya says.
Ram Chandra Dome, former Lok Sabha MP from Bolpur seat in Birbhum and a politburo member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) too echoes these sentiments.
“The state government is yet to make the ‘detailed project report (DPR) public,” he says. “What will be the impact on the lives and culture of tribals is not assessed. We do not know what the environmental impact will be.”