Locals refuse to buy Adani's Gondalpura coal mining plan

Adani Group's commercial coal mining project in Gondalpura Panchayat of Barkagaon Block in Jharkhand is facing stiff protests from local residents, who do not want to give up land for the project. Planned to become operational by 2024, the coal block was allotted to the conglomerate by the Union Coal Ministry in the first round of auction of commercial coal blocks in 2021. It is expected to produce 4 million tonnes of coal annually, which will be fed to thermal power units. Though the Hazaribagh administration has notified 513 acres for the project, the company is yet to acquire it. Of the total, nearly 219 acres is forest land and 70 acres is Gair Majurwa. Locals who are against the project live on and cultivate the remaining 224 acres. Adani’s efforts to hold gram sabhas with the locals in order to win them over have failed. Two gram sabhas held in October, with the help of the district administration and Nabard, were met with protests from the locals. The company tried to win the trust of the locals through corporate social responsibility initiatives such as health camps, distribution of nutrition supplements and medicines, and meeting the health expenses of 50 tuberculosis patients. But so far, their endeavour has not yielded results. See also: Coal ministry rejects Chhattisgarh government’s proposalImport of thermal coal to stop by 2025