Farmers, Tribals Continue Protest Against Moser Baer Thermal Plant in MP

Farmers and tribals from Anuppur district of Madhya Pradesh- who have a long history of resistance and struggle for their rights, especially after their lands had been acquired for the Moser Baer Thermal Power Plant, are up in arms again as their demands are yet to be fulfilled.

Since early 2010, people from Laharpur Murra, Guwari, Belia, and Jethari villages, located in Jaithari and Anuppur tehsils, Anuppur district where the project is located have been raising their concerns over the project. Though the villagers- the villages are mainly populated by scheduled castes and tribes such as Gauds, Bhaina, Jaiswal, Ganesh, Munka etc- had opposed the project, the plant was still established there.

At the time of land acquisition for the project, the people who had lost their land and livelihood were promised employment, pension, schools, roads and better rehabilitation. There were even written agreements on the same. However, as many as 1166 people are still waiting for the promises to get fulfilled. Raising this issue, the people over there have begun their protest again.

Though some people have been given jobs in the projects, they all are contractual workers. They don’t get minimum wages and other benefits.

“For the acquisition of land, the company did not have full permissions from the respective authorities. But because of political pressure, higher authorities had given the clearance and the people protested and several people were put in jail 2012,” said Badal Saroj, the then state secretary of Communist Party of India (Marxist)- which has been instrumental in fighting for the rights of farmers and tribals in the area. 35 farmers had been locked up in jail until 25th June, 2012.

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“We approached collector and other higher authorities regarding the same issue, even tripartite meetings had happened. Every time, they promised that it would be done in one month, two months and all. Nothing has materialised so far.  Before the parliament election also, we help protest demonstrations. As always, they said that the demands would be fulfilled in 15 days,” he said.

During the parliament election campaigns of 2019, one of the leading faces of the resistance, Jugal Kishore Rathore- a district committee member of CPI(M), was served with an exile notice. As per the order, he is not allowed to enter the Anuppur district and 3 other neighbouring districts.

“When we had received it, we learnt that the notice was signed in march 2019.  But, he was served the notice during the parliament election campaigns. It is just a flared up case and this action is absolutely illegal and undemocratic,” Saroj added.

According to Badal Saroj, there are at least three such cases in Madhya Pradesh. MP is one of the largest centres of land acquisition in Asia and tribals are the main target.

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A study by activists in this field also say that the project was illegally approved without the necessary environmental clearances. “There was no disclosure of 37875 hectares of acquired forest land in either a public hearing or the Environmental Impact Assessment reports before receiving clearances from the Environment and Forest Ministry. The company did not even inform the central forest department about the takeover of such land.”

“The Chief Conservator of Forests of Bhopal had given Moser Baer a list of environmental demands regarding the acquisition process based on which a provisional/in principle agreement to utilize the 37875 hectares of forest land had been given on the 4th June 2010. However Moser Baer did not complete any of the stipulated demands and went ahead and grabbed the forest land destroying the trees and flattening the ground. Moser Baer also illegally set up various bore wells in the area sucking out large quantities of water. The environmental ministry had not carried out any public hearings before the acquisition process.”

Observing how the project affected the entire area, Saroj said, “it is not only the question of displacement. The project itself is a big scam. They have blocked the flow of rivers nearby, destroyed the biodiversity in the area.”

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