A dispossessed village leader describes the hardships faced by him and his family despite financial ‘compensation’ for land acquired for an Adani coal project. He warns other villagers facing the same fate from the next Adani coal project not to accept company promises but to keep fighting for their rights.
Ramal Kariyam, a village leader in India’s Hasdeo forests, describes how his community is standing up to Adani and the authorities, despite unwarranted detentions and an arson attack.
Sunita Porte, a tribal leader of the struggle to protect the Hasdeo forests from Adani’s coal mines, tells of her narrow escape from police on the day that other village leaders were taken into custody in the dead of night. While village leaders were detained without charge, the forest was felled by the Adani company.
Alok Shukla, defender of the Hasdeo forests and its people, receives the prestigious Goldman Award, May 2024. Abir Dasgupta interviews him for AdaniWatch. The Adani Group operates a coal mine in the forests and is attempting to develop more, despite the opposition of people who depend on the forests for their livelihoods and way of life.
The campaign to protect India’s Hasdeo forests from coal mining received a boost on 13 February 2024 when prominent Congress leader, Rahul Gandhi, met with leaders of the movement and pledged the support of his party. The indigenous tribal people of the biodiverse Hasdeo forests have been struggling gamely to protect their ancestral homeland from a string of coal projects being developed by the Adani Group. A change of state government in December had disastrous consequences, with dozens of campaigners detained by police while a swathe of forest was felled.
Adani’s plans for huge new coal mines in India’s Hasdeo forests have created a political stoush involving three governments. One state government has asked the national government to revoke mining permits. Another wants the coal. And the national government says the decision to destroy the forests has already been made. In the midst of all this is Rahul Gandhi, one of India’s most prominent politicians.
Congress figurehead, Rahul Gandhi, has said tribal protests against Adani’s coal mines in the Hasdeo forests are ‘justified’. Results of his work behind the scenes on the ‘problem’ should be ‘visible in a couple of weeks.’
In the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, billions of tonnes of coal lie beneath the ancestral forested lands of the Gond people. This is elephant habitat. In June, AdaniWatch reported on the state government’s proposal to establish a large elephant reserve in the area. The central government of Narendra Modi, however, is seeking to enable an expansion of coal mines run by the Adani Group.
Interview: Senior Chhattisgarh minister opposes Land Takeover by New Delhi for Adani Coal Mine in Hasdeo forests. ‘We oppose any action that forestalls people from exercising their better judgement and tries to take their land away’
