On April 28, the southern bench of NGT nullified a policy in place for the past five years whereby thermal power plants were allowed to change their “source of coal”, irrespective of ash content, calorific values or potential environmental hazards.

The Union Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (“the ministry”) had issued the policy through a “office memorandum” dated November 11, 2020, without consultation with stakeholders or conducting scientific assessments. Setting aside the office memoranda, a division bench of the tribunal comprising judicial member Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana and expert member Satyagopal Korlapati said:

“The MoEF&CC [the ministry] which is a regulatory body of the environment and ecology, instead of converting towards higher accountability it is drifting towards dilution in the name of reforms.”

The bench also rapped the ministry on its knuckles for effecting a policy change through an office memorandum which is merely an instrument to be used for administrative purposes.

“The OMs [office memoranda] in question are not legislative rules as they do not undergo the public consultation, stakeholder engagement or gazette publication in the same manner as that of the S.O or any statute. The OMs are issued without any scientific study or in fact assessment. The legal character of the OMs is administrative but their effect is legislative creating de facto exemptions from legal mandates. Such a shift in regulatory thresholds through OMs is inconsistent with the Principle of Legality and with well-established limits on delegated legislation,” the bench further said.

The petitioner in the case, highlighting the arbitrary nature of the policy change, had told the tribunal that “it indicates commercial interests prioritize over environmental protection” and that “it only reflects industrial facilitation approach rather than environmental regulation.”

The policy was among a series of reforms by the Modi government, brought quick on the heels of opening the coal sector for commercial mining by corporate entities. Experts had warned that such the reforms could have catastrophic consequences on local environment and livelihood of project-affected communities living in the vicinity of power plants. It was alleged that power projects would switch over to cheaper sources of coal, owing to higher quantity of ash content, without necessary environmental safeguards.

The opening of the coal sector for commercial mining has unlocked dozens of blocks, the reserves of which are of comparatively cheaper prices owing to higher ash content. Most domestic coal in India is known to have higher ash content than imported coal. As a result, quantity of fuel combusted for generation of one unit of electricity increases with usage of cheaper coal.

Though the office memorandum allowed power plants to change the fuel source without fresh environmental clearances, it prohibited establishment of additional ash ponds to store the commensurate increase in fly ash generated from the combustion of cheaper coal.

The new policy envisaged for “High Concentration Slurry Disposal (HCSD) systems due to their ecological advantages including reduced ash pond size, lower water consumption and minimal environmental contamination from runoff water or dust dispersion”.

However, the tribunal observed that the ministry failed to take cognizance of the fact that increased coal usage and ash generation will directly impact the quantum of water consumed by thermal power plants. “Water required for cooling purposes increases on account of increased quantity of coal combustion, water consumed in ash handling system will increase greatly as more water is required for making the dust cooling higher quantity of ash into slurry to be transported through pipelines,” it said.

Twice during hearing of the case – as the tribunal has observed in its judgement – the ministry amended the notification to apparently portray that environmental safeguards were being taken care of in allowing industries to change the source of coal at will.

The NGT observed that permission to change fuel source without amendment of environmental clearance would tantamount to “submission of false information or suppression of information since the character of pollution as well as quantum of pollution load varies with the source of coal and combination of domestic and imported coal”.

The tribunal further noted that “shifting to domestic coal will result in higher loads of fly ash generation which can impact both air and water quality” while in case of imported coal (which has higher quantities of sulphur), emission of toxic sulphurous oxides “will increase which can affect the air quality and could also result in acid rains which can in turn impact water and soil qualities.”

When the above mentioned apprehensions were expressed during the arguments, the ministry brought an amendment to the office memorandum on December 6, 2023 capping the limits of blending domestic and imported coal for industries to avoid fresh environment impact assessment. The necessity of carrying out environment impact assessment was still ruled out in cases of switching over from “domestic coal to domestic coal” or from “imported coal to domestic coal with the same calorific value”.

The ministry amended the notification yet again on January 7, 2025 when it was asked by the tribunal to examine the technical aspects of the policy granting permission for change in coal source without environmental clearance.

In the latest amendment, the ministry made a reference to its own notification regarding fly ash utilisation deadlines for thermal power plants. Through a notification dated December 31, 2021 – among a series of guidelines issued over the past 27 years to tighten compliance obligations and timeline for ash disposal and reuse – the ministry has set clear deadlines for power plants to complete disposal of fly ash.

The ministry made it clear in the new amended office memorandum that the guidelines dated December 31, 2021 were to apply irrespective of change in coal source. It further made it mandatory for thermal power plants changing coal source to ensure that “loading, unloading, transport, storage and disposal of ash is done in an environmentally sound manner and that all precautions to prevent air and water pollution are taken and status in this regard shall be reported to the concerned State Pollution Control Board”.

However, the NGT noted that the thermal power sector continues to under-preform in ash utilisation taking cognizance of various reports of the Comptroller & Auditor General (CAG) of India and the Central Pollution Control Board. “In the light of the above, the invocation of 2021 notification in the 2025 amendment appears performative, lacking real regulatory bit,” said the tribunal.

Apart from missing deadlines, thermal power projects have in the past also resorted to improper disposal of fly ash resulting in adverse impacts on environment and livelihoods of local communities. As per the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), which is India’s premier government body for policy formulation in the power sector:

“Indian Coal is of Low Grade with Ash Content of the order of 24 – 63 % in comparison to Imported Coal which has Low Ash Content of the order of 3 – 20 %. Large Quantity of Ash is, thus being generated at Coal / Lignite based Thermal Power Stations in the Country, which not only requires Large Area of precious Land for its disposal but is also one of the sources of Pollution of both Air and Water.”

The CEA’s fly ash utilisation report of March 2023 states that a mere 78.14% of total fly ash generated by all thermal power projects across the country during the first half of the financial year 2022-23 was properly utilised. This compares poorly with the corresponding figure for the first half of the previous financial year, which stood at 81.65%.

Experts have pointed out that arbitrary change to cheaper coal not only causes unforeseen pollution during combustion but also during transportation.

“The quality of coal and the route it takes to reach power plants after mining contribute significantly to air pollution and socio-economic impacts of a coal-based power plant. Any change in the coal source must be thoroughly evaluated by the competent committee vide the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006. This will ensure a proper assessment of environmental and socio-economic impacts and help minimize incremental pollution, if the power plants seek a change in source for economic or logistical reasons,” Sunil Dahiya, founder and lead analyst of Envirocatalysts, an independent organisation working on the crossroads of environment, climate change and livelihoods, told this correspondent.

The petitioner had argued that environmental clearance to a thermal power plant is granted based on a firm coal linkage and disclosure of the coal source and coal characteristics. “The impact of various aspects like air emissions, impact due to transport, storage, coal handling, water requirement, ash generation and storage, ash ponds and utilization etc. are assessed, and anticipated impact is forecasted. Only based on the above factors, a public hearing is conducted after which the project is appraised and the Environmental Clearnce is issued,” the petitioner had argued.

The court said that “integrity of environmental governance” cannot be undermined for the sake of “prioritizing ease of business and operational flexibility”. It said, that from the environmental stand point, the changes brought in through the office memoranda “can permit transition to coal sources that may in practice result in higher emission or other forms of pollution due to blending practices, differences in coal quality or operation inefficiencies, none of which are evaluated prior to the exemption taking effect.” It quashed the memoranda saying that those “do not offer any methodology for assessing or verifying pollution load differences before exempting the project from regulatory oversight”.

The writer is an independent journalist.

Courtesy: Newsclick

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Farmers umbrella body Sanyukta Kisan Morcha (SKM) on February 22, 2022 urged the West Bengal government to listen to the grievances of Adivasi farmers in the Deocha-Panchami-Harinsingha-Dewanganj region with respect to the upcoming coal mining project in the area.

Leaders protesting near national capital Delhi expressed alarm on receiving reports that farmers in the concerned area of Birbhum were being forced to accept the government’s “compensation package” and give up their farmlands and pastures for the sake of the coal mining project. Although work has not begun on the project yet, it is being viewed as one of the largest mine projects in the world.

Earlier on November 9, 2021, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced a ₹ 10,000 cr rehabilitation package for those affected by the proposed Deocha-Pachami coal mining project. At the time, she had said that land would not be forcibly acquired but only after winning the trust of the local people. Yet, locals reported harassment by authorities amidst peaceful protests.

About a third of the farmers are Santhal Adivasis, with a sizable population in the minority community and disadvantaged category. As per various forest laws including the Forest Rights Act, Adivasi groups in related regions are entitled to a say in the sanctioning of development projects such as mining, given how it will have a significant impact on the environment and ecology in the surrounding area. However, the SKM said that the state government has not followed the legal process of holding gram sabhas, presenting mining project details or rehabilitation packages and obtaining consent from villagers.

“The administration has followed a clandestine process of obtaining purported consent from individuals, which is illegal. Peaceful protests are being brutally repressed by the police and administration. A reign of terror has been unleashed on villagers, many of whom have been arrested and jailed, along with activists who are supporting them,” said SKM leader Darshan Pal.

SKM appealed to Banerjee to instruct the local police and administration to immediately stop repression and arrest of villagers and activists and allow an environment of peaceful and democratic engagement. Further, it asked for a transparent, public and legally mandated manner of discussion between the farmers and the state government. Stressing their support for farmers rights, the SKM pointed out that farmers do not have to give up their farmlands, pastures, homestead and farm livelihood for the sake of mining and industry unless they give their consent through a process mandated in the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013.

According to NewsClick, the project has an estimated coal reserve of about 2,102 million tonnes with a coal block area of about 12.31 square kilometres. The government claims the project will create over one lakh jobs but locals worry about the state of their livelihood once the mining begins. Concerned organisations told NewsClick that about 70,000 people may be evicted due to this project. Further, people may have to lose their traditional holdings if their main form of occupation is affected.

Related:

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Kolkata: Student unions protest the alleged murder of activist Anis Khan

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In a bid to save their homeland, around 1,000 Adivasis held a protest against the Deocha-Pachami coal mining project that could result in the destruction of tribal settlements. The protest was held in front of Mohammad Bazar police station for nearly three hours on September 9, 2020, Telegraph India on Thursday.

The protest was led by Birbhum Adivasi Gaonta, a platform of tribal people opposing the proposed coal mine. 40 other areas across India have been proposed for coal mining and have met similar opposition from locals who fear loss of livelihood and land. However, both the Central government and the West Bengal government are keen on starting mining by early next year.

One of the protestors present on Wednesday said that his people do not wish to be evicted from their land at any cost. He said Adivasis don’t want a coal mine in the area as their livelihood is already facing a crisis because of pre-existing stone mines and crushers.

District officials assure that affected families will receive appropriate compensations but fail to gain the trust of tribal folk.

On July 9 2020, government officials including Chief Secretary Rajiva Sinha had held a meeting with stakeholders and landowners expressing the government’s desire to start mining soon. The meeting also claimed to address the concerns of locals. There, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said “all queries by relevant stakeholders have been addressed” and that the State government intends to create a “model for India” by effectively executing the Deocha-Pachima coal mine project.

Chief Secretary Shri Rajiva Sinha ji, other senior state & district officials have held detailed consultation with the people of Md. Bazar Block at Deocha. The entire coal mining project was explained at length & all queries by the relevant stakeholders were addressed. (1/2)

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) July 9, 2020

We will create a model for India to execute large projects like Deocha Pachami Coal Block. This shall be done in phases & with full public support by adopting best mining practices in a time bound manner. Wheels of development in Bengal won’t stop even in times of crises. (2/2)

— Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) July 9, 2020

However, according to Convener of the Birbhum Adivasi Gaonta, Sunil Soren, the original stakeholders were not allowed to take part in the July 9 meeting. He said local Trinamool Congress leaders produced some people to discuss the issue of rehabilitation. Soren emphasised that the locals don’t support setting up of the coal mine at any cost.

The group had submitted a deputation to the police that detailed their demands including an end to police atrocities and the illegal stone crushers and mines.

Meanwhile, the government is deeply invested in the Deocha-Pachami coal block in Birbhum’s Mohammedbazar. The coal block is spread over 11,222 acres with an estimated coal reserve of around 2.2 billion tonnes. Government figures claim that the project can generate jobs for at least 1.5 lakh people and has the potential to boost economic growth for the entire area of south Bengal.

District officials, however, said the government was planning to start the work of the coal mine from around 40 acres of land vested with it.

Related:

Unmindful mining will bring permanent pandemic
NAPM demands that Centre immediately revoke the commercial auction of 41 coal blocks
Commercial Mining, not a boon but a curse: Jharkhand & Central India

The post Adivasis protest Deocha-Pachami coal mining project appeared first on SabrangIndia.

What a disaster commercialisation would bring is exemplified in the following narrative.

It graphically recounts how an Adivasi community lived before the start of mining in their neighbourhood and what damage it did over course of time.

Dubil is an Adivasi village in Saranda forest of West Singhbhum district, Jharkhand. This village of about 500 persons lived a happy life, close to nature. Paddy was the main crop, harvested twice a year, and supplemented by various cereals. The village was blessed with two natural streams, which ran with fresh water throughout the year. But alas, the Chiria iron ore mine, covering 3276 hectares, came up in the vicinity. As the mining expanded year by year, the happy life of Dubil Adivasis started to shrink steadily. The giant company started to distribute the actual mining activity to subsidiary companies who felt they had no obligation at all towards neighbouring village communities in terms of compensation for the damage done to their agriculture and water sources. Eventually about 100 acres of their fertile land became barren and the water stream is now flowing with reddish water.       

Apart from this, labourers from outside were being brought to work the mines whereas the locals were reduced to the category of ‘day-wage labourers’.  When the people of Dubil and neigihbouring communities organised themselves and protested against this injustice, their legitimate democratic actions were criminalised and police cases were filed against them. Six of their leaders were put behind bars. Verily, insult added to injury.

Even some half-hearted steps by the government to ameliorate their living condition did not make any difference.  The housing scheme failed when half of the houses collapsed or became uninhabitable. The hand-pumps stopped working, the solar lamps and radios have disappeared, the bicycles have broken down. Thus the promise usually made at the start of the project of bringing ‘development’ falls flat and people are left with greater deprivation and anguish.                                         

[edited extract from ‘Mission Saranda – a war for natural resources in India’ by Gladson Dungdung, pp. 59-64]

GOI’s decision to commercialise/privatise coal mines both  arbitrary and unjust

On Jun18, 2020 the central government released a list of 41 coal blocks from all over the country to be auctioned to private companies.  This is said to be the panacea for the economic crisis the country is presently facing. We are told 10 crore tons of coal will be made into gas, India will become the biggest coal-exporting country in the world, and that this will be a giant step towards making our country self-reliant etc.  In taking this step, central government wilfully ignored the plea by Jharkhand govt that the auctioning be delayed for six to eight months until the battle against corona virus is decisively won. So out of 41 coal blocks, 9 in Jharkhand, 9 in Chattisgarh, 9 in Odisha, 11 in Madhya Pradesh are slated to be auctioned. 

[Commercialisation/privatisation of coal mines through auctions will pave the way for the plunder of minerals. Most coal mines in central India are located in predominantly Adivasi areas and this arbitrary decision of the Centre has been taken, disregarding protective laws, judicial verdicts in favour of the Adivasis over past decades. The Jharkhand government has appealed against this arbitrary action of the central government in the Supreme Court of India.]

Let it be noted most of these mines in all above States are located in the predominantly Adivasi-inhabited areas, that is, on Adivasi land and forests.           

There is no need to remind anyone that India’s Adivasis and forest dwellers are among the most marginalised communities. They make up about 8 percent of India’s population of 1.3 billion, but about 40 percent of the 60 million people displaced by development projects in past decades are Adivasis. Only 25% of them have been resettled but none rehabilitated. They were given minimal compensation and then neatly forgotten.

Concern One: Only two parties (central government and private company) on the negotiating table. Why were major stake holders not consulted, in fact, ignored? Where are the people whose land will be excavated, will be displaced, will be reduced from being landowners to landless casual labourers when such decisions are taken?

Concern Two: Where are the laws, judicial verdicts … such as the Vth Schedule of the Constitution which stipulates that Tribes Advisory Council be taken into confidence for any project in Vth Schedule Area, the PESA Act [1996] which requires Gram Sabhas be consulted in the allotment of major minerals, the Samata judgment [1997] which empowers village cooperatives to be the sole agents of excavating coal mines in Vth Schedule areas, Forest Rights Act [2006] that makes it mandatory to obtain the consent of  Gram Sabha for any mining in the forests, the SC declaring [2013] ‘owner of land is also owner of sub-soil minerals’, the Land Acquisition Act [2013] which prohibits

acquisition of multi-crop agricultural land etc.                                                                       

Does this unilateralism mean laws enacted in parliament, judgments passed by the highest court of the land do not apply to present central government?

Concern Three: Past experience shows private companies are not going to abide by the laws protective of Adivasi community and their rights over natural resources. The government will acquire Adivasi land, forcibly if need be, and hand it over to the companies. Land is given to them on a platter. If affected people protest, they will be handled by law-and-order forces, willingly supplied by the local government administration. Multiple cases will be foisted on those who lead people’s protests and thrown behind bars. Private companies have nothing to worry.

Concern Four: How does India reconcile the fact that on the one hand the corporate houses go on accumulating profits in millions and billions of rupees and will go off the scene once the plunder is complete, and on the other hand the small & marginal farmers who lose all they have and are reduced to penury and destitution?  Has even a semblance of justice disappeared in our society?

Concern Five: it is not to say that there should be no mining of minerals at all. Only, that this must meet the needs of the community and not for making profit. A collective understanding of two significant SC judgments, namely the 2013 verdict which entitles the owner of the land to be also the owner of sub-soil minerals and the 1997 verdict, which declares that cooperatives of local Adivasis alone can do mining need to be the guiding stars, the arbiters. It then becomes the paramount duty of the state to help in the formation and registration of co-operatives, and to provide the wherewithal, such as the initial capital, the needed technical expertise, managerial skills, marketing avenues etc so they can function flawlessly and to the benefit of the whole community. The state can do it if it really wants the development and welfare of all.

Where there is a will, there is a way.

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Kosampalli, a small village in the Tamnar block in the Raigarh district was severely affected by coal mining. In 2000, the coal mining work started in and around the village changing its landscape drastically. Both the private companies that undertook it and the government that supported it made the villagers believe that mining would give them better livelihood opportunities, education and health facilities. But only as the mining work progressed that the villagers realised that they were being conned.

In November 2016, on the request of the villagers, an expert fact-finding team comprising environmental and social researchers Shripad Dharmadhikary and Manshi Asher visited Raigarh and investigated the impact of coal mining in the region. As per the report brought out by the team, close to 80 coal blocks have been identified in the Raigarh coal field of which the Gare Pelma coal block, spread over an area of 16,649 hectares, is the largest. Many of these were allotted to several public and private sector companies. Almost 1000 hectares of forestland has been given to private companies for setting up sponge iron plants.

Changing landscape and lives

In the last 15 years, the landscape of the Tamnar and Gharghoda blocks–two of the most affected coal mining blocks of the district–has drastically changed. Heaps of coal dust and fly ash cover the area which was once covered by forest. It has also impacted the livelihoods of the residents of the blocks.

The mining in the region has resulted in the drastic decline in the growth of mahua flowers and tendupatta (leaves) which are the primary sources of livelihood for most of the villagers in the coal belt in the Raigarh district. The mahua tree (Madhuka indica) and its flowers are used for making medicines as well as alcohol. The tendupatta  (Diospyros melanoxylon) leaves are used for wrapping the tobacco to make beedis. “Deforestation due to mining has affected more than 50 percent of the mahua and tendupatta trees in the region,” says 48-year-old Choyala Ram Siddar, a resident of Milupara panchayat.

The fact-finding report revealed that the air quality in the area is exceptionally poor resulting in several health issues among the residents. “More than 100 earning members from 240 families of the Kosampalli-Sarasmal panchayat have died from respiratory and other health diseases in the last two decades. The immunity of the people has drastically reduced due to living in the polluted environment,” says Kanahai Patel of the panchayat.

Raigarh, which was once rich in water resources, is facing a severe water crisis. The Kelo river, a tributary of Mahanadi that runs through Tamnar, is so polluted from the waste from mining that it has turned black. Not just this, even the groundwater is affected by mining. “Out of the 116 villages in the Tamnar block, at least 90 villages are facing serious groundwater depletion,” says the fact-finding report.

The fact-finding team is of the opinion that water depletion in the open cast mining is due to the huge pits dug for the mines that allow water to seep in from the surroundings which in turn impacts surface water sources as the surface and groundwater are interconnected.

Industries and private mining companies have acquired agricultural land by using all kinds of tactics–from money to harassment. “Encroachment is one of the most common patterns used by the big as well as the small plants,” says the report.

“Even after the massive damage to the environment and the people in the region, the government has not stalled the mining. Instead, it has proposed three mining and industrial projects in the Tamnar and Gharghoda blocks. The project would again affect 54 villages in the district. The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC) had submitted a detailed report on the impact of coal mining in the Raigarh district in January 2017 to the government about the non-compliance of conditions stipulated by the environment ministry, but no action has been taken so far by the government,” says Rinchin, a senior researcher and activist working with Chhattisgarh Bachao Andolan, a human rights forum.

“The air pollution is beyond permissible limits in the Tamnar and Gharghoda blocks in the Raigarh district,” says a recent fact-finding expert committee report.”The air pollution is beyond permissible limits in the Tamnar and Gharghoda blocks in the Raigarh district,” says a recent fact-finding expert committee report.

Courtesy: http://www.indiawaterportal.org/
 

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Spokesperson for W&J Adrian Burragubba said, “The document Adani is trying to pass off as an Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA) with our people is illegitimate. We launched action last year to defeat this dodgy deal and we are now taking decisive action in the Federal Court to have this fake agreement struck out”.

Burragubba said, “We have put evidence before the National Native Title Tribunal to prove that Adani does not have an agreement with W&J for its mine of mass destruction, which will destroy our ancestral homelands and waters, the cultural landscape and our heritage.”

He added, “Three times we have rejected any deal with the Indian mining conglomerate. Now Adani are on the back foot and have run crying to the Queensland Resources Council and the Federal Attorney General, asking them to do their bidding by pushing through an ‘Adani amendment’ to the Native Title Act.”

Burragubba claimed, his organization has come to know about Adani's move to amend the law from former Federal Resources Minister Ian MacFarlane, who “boasted at a Townsville business breakfast last week that he has spoken to his ‘good mates in Canberra’ about amending native title law.”

He alleged, “This is just additional proof that the Turnbull government is in bed with the Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and the Queensland mining industry.”

Representing W&J, lawyer Colin Hardie said, “Adani and the mining industry are trying to manufacture a sense of crisis and appear desperate to force the Federal government to rush through changes to the Native Title Act to suit their interests.”

The Native Title Act requires all members the Registered Native Title Claimants (RNTC) to sign the ILUA, which is a voluntary agreement between a native title group and others about the use of land and waters, for any changes.

At a meeting of the indigenous group called by the industry group, said W&J, over “200 of those in attendance were people not previously identified as W&J people”, adding, worse, some members of the RNTC refused to sign the purported ILUA – the reason why the Adani is seeking to amend the Act.

Meanwhile, an Australian not-for-profit legal practice group based in Melbourne, Environmental Justice Australia (EJA), has come up with an Adani Brief, which it has forwarded to the Australian governments and potential financiers seeking to back Adani’s coalming project, saying such a move “may expose them to financial and reputational risks.”

Giving details of the Adani Brief, EJA lawyer and report author Ariane Wilkinson said, “The extremely concerning international track record of the Adani Group in India raises serious questions about whether they should be allowed to do business in Australia.”

The report, among other issues, focuses on sinking of a ship carrying Adani coal, which saw oil and coal spill off Mumbai’s coast, damaging tourism, polluting the marine environment and attracting a AU$975,000 court fine; and constructing Hajira Port without approval, destroying habitat, claiming land and blocking access to fishing communities, which resulted in a court order to pay AU$4.8 million for compensation and restoration.

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