Three decades on, promises unfulfilled

According to Sahyog, the coal mines of Northern Coalfields Ltd, a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd, have evicted thousands, and some 2,000 forest dwellers and 600 families are still owed money or jobs. Asked for comment, V.K. Singh, Northern Coalfield’s chief, said: “Everyone wants a job, which is the main cause of discontentment. But it’s not possible to give it to everyone.”

Across the border

The problem also spills across the border into Madhya Pradesh where NTPC’s 3,200MW Vindyachal super thermal power plant is located. Some 2,300 families were displaced when the plant was set up in 1982. Six hundred families are still waiting to be rehabilitated, according to Upendra Pandey, a member of Bishthapit Yuva Parishad, a local organization.

A larger issue of displacement, according to Green Sea’s Choudhury, is not about opposing industrialization, but offering decent compensation packages.

“People are willing to give up their land if they get a good deal,” Choudhury said. “In Singrauli, when people were displaced by the Rihand dam, they were literally thrown out without any compensation. People are not willing to take risks anymore when they have seen what has happened to others.”