Reliance Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project

: A Case Study A saga of deceit, displacement and ruthless exploitation

Forcibly displaced ‘Baiga’ tribal (indigenous) people, who got little compensation, and

are either ignored or threatened every time they try to raise their grievances. The

Fact Finding team members in the background.

Soumya Dutta

Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha (BJVJ)

Study partly supported by ‘Nature Code’, and by the people of Singrauli

The background :-

The coal-fired 3960 MW Ultra Mega Power Plant (UMPP) of Reliance Power, owned by one

of the largest corporate houses of India, Reliance ADAG – through its subsidiary, Reliance

Power, is located in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, in Singrauli area that is

often called by the administrators, the ‘energy capital’ of India (about 46% of India’s total

primary energy and about 65% of its electricity comes from Coal). This name originated

from the huge coal deposits found in the area, a number of big coal mines (open-cast), and

an increasing number of large coal power plants. As per the 2005-06 UMPP policy of the

Government of India, these UMPPs are first formulated by a public sector company - Power

Finance Corporation Ltd, with a Special Purpose Vehicle created for each UMPP that obtains

most regulatory clearances /consents, and then these are transferred to the successful

bidder based on lowest levelized tariff. This makes it easy for the private sector bidders and

supposed to help lower costs as the SPV of the Govt agency (PFCL) deals with a large chunk

of both public dealings and clearance negotiations with other government departments.

None-the-less, in most of the UMPPs awarded – including Reliance owned Sasan – there are

agreements between the Government(s) and the winning bidders, about several public

actions to be undertaken, including land acquisition and its compensation, consultations,

compensations for other assets acquired, providing jobs to locals etc. While not water-tight,

these are often a safety valve for the displaced and affected population, giving them some

relief from the shock of getting uprooted from a settled life. Singrauli increasingly is an

exception, and to understand why many big corporates are going to Singrauli with their

mega coal projects, we need to understand the fast changing character of Singrauli itself.

A brief account of Singrauli & its transformation –

Singrauli area – divided between the states of Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh in India’s

east-central part, has been in the news for quite a long time (at least for the last two

decades), for various reasons. It’s spread within the three districts of Sonebhadra, Sidhi and

newly formed Singrauli. This area was named the ‘Energy Capital’ of India, as it is home to a

large number of coal mines and coal based Thermal Power Plants (TPPs).

The following description is from Wikipedia --

“The area in the eastern part of the state of MADHYA Pradesh and the adjoining southern part of Renukoot district in the state of Uttar Pradesh is collectively known as Singrauli. Singrauli is emerging as India’s Energy capital, the place earlier known as Shringavali, named after the sage Shringi, was once upon a time covered with dense and unnavigable forests and inhabited by wild animals. The place was considered so treacherous that it was used by the Kings of Rewa State, who ruled the area till 1947, as an open air prison for detaining errant civilians and officers.

Just two generations ago, small holders were tending their parcels of land here, and the original inhabitants were gathering honey and herbs in the forest. In the late fifties, a large scale dam banked up the water of the River Rihand. The dam and its reservoir known

as Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar, was inaugurated by India’s first Prime Minister Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru in 1962. Later, rich coal deposits spread over an area of 2200 km² in the state of M.P. (eastern part of Sidhi District) and U.P. (southern part of Sonebhadra District) were discovered close to the artificial lake, that could be used to generate electricity.[1]

On 24 May 2008, Madhya Pradesh government has declared Singrauli as its 50th district by separating from Sidhi with 3 tehsils viz. Singrauli, Chitrangi and Deosar. On 1 April 2012 two new tehsils are added viz. Mada and Sarai.”

The Singrauli Coalfield is located between latitudes 24012’ N and 230 47’ N. It is spread over nearly 2,200 square kilometres (850 sq mi) but only a small part of the coalfield, around 220 square kilometres (85 sq mi), has been identified as promising by the Geological Survey of India. The north-eastern part of the coalfield sits on a plateau with an altitude of 500m above mean sea level, well above the lower plains of 280m altitude.”

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Social and Economic condition and transformation : a saga of multiple displacements and deprivations – For the last 50 + years, the character of the area has changed drastically – starting with the construction of the Rihand Dam, from a well forested, ‘Adivaasi’ (tribal / indigenous people) inhabited far-off region somewhere in east-central India, to a hub of coal mining and electric power production. Large scale losses to the forest lands took place, which were diverted for all these mega projects. Along with this, due to the extremely polluting nature of the coal industries, Singrauli also had the infamous tag of being one of the most critically polluted areas in India, taking its toll on the residents. Associated with this drastic and rapid transformation, are many social and economic strains and stresses, and some of these have resulted in shady activities, violence and more in the past. This also gives corporates with money the opportunity to use the powerful but shady elements to bypass many regulations, violently suppress people’s grievances and carry on with many illegalities. The present times have seen an increase in these tensions for various reasons, briefly explained in the next section.

The Singrauli area has a large percentage of Adivaasi (tribal / indigenous people) population, consisting of Baigas, Gondhs, and others. The economic condition of adivaasi’s – almost everywhere in India – is at the bottom. And this being a state which itself is placed very low on the economic and social development indicators – Madhya Pradesh sits at the 20th place in terms of Human Development Index (at a pathetic 0.375 compared to the best states’ figures of .075 and even far below the national average of 0.467) amongst the 23 Indian States which are listed in the 2011 India National Human Development Report – the adivaasi’s and other poor people are perilously close to destitution level (unless access to forests and other natural resources are ensured).

When the Rihand dam on the Rihand river created the huge Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar reservoir in the 1950s, many villages, farmlands and homes got submerged, and the displaced people were pushed off to the nearby areas – often without much compensation or any rehabilitation. Large amounts of forest lands also got alienated from these people. It was said at that time that this reservoir will provide irrigation water to a large area in the vicinity – transforming the local economy and the fortune of farmers, one of the “temples of modern India” in the language of then Prime Minister of India - Jawaharlal Nehru. When extensive deposits of coal was discovered in the area, not far from the reservoir and new coal mines were started by the Northern Coalfields Limited (NCL) – a subsidiary of the state

owned Coal India Limited (CIL), many of these already displaced people were uprooted from their places of settlements – for a second time. The amount of forest land taken and destroyed - for these mines and thermal power plants, and thus pushing the forest dependent people further into poverty – has kept on increasing ever since. By a rough estimate, this forest land (including revenue forest land) diversion for coal projects since 1980 has reached almost 6,000 Hectares (“Singrauli : The coal curse”, Greenpeace India, 2011), including ‘in principle approval’ for diversion. This continuing and massive loss of forest lands, acquisition of farm lands at low compensations and the adverse impact on farming from massive pollution from coal plants, have quickly dried up the many nature dependent livelihoods that existed, and pushed local people towards scavenging, pilferage and even petty thefts.

Visual 1 : The massive ‘scars’ of open-cast coal mines causing deforestation and huge pollution of the waters of the Rihand dam reservoir are visible. The large coal-based TPPs (Anpara, Shaktinagar, Vindhya… in the map) are also consuming massive amounts of water and discharging large volumes of polluting waste into this, also visible in this Google image.

In the late 1970s, when a wave of coal mining and thermal power plants began in the area, starting with the NTPC owned Rihand and Singrauli coal based power stations, many of these once displaced local people were displaced again from whatever little natural resources they still had access to for life and livelihoods. Getting access to cheap power and abundant water from the Rihand dam’s reservoir, other mega industries like aluminium and cement plants also established their operations here, capturing more of the land and waters – which was originally meant for farming. Thus, a natural resource dependent, sustainable large community was reduced to poverty and dependence on a few petty works coming out of the ‘new industrialisation’. Along with the displacements, the large number of coal mines and coal power plants also contributed to the massive pollution of the water sources, of the air and of agricultural lands – thus dealing a fatal blow to many natural eco-systems

which sustained local populations. From a pristine forested area supporting a dignified life for both adivaasi and non-adivaasi people, Singrauli became ‘One of the most polluted industrial areas’ with a CEPI of 81.73 (The Central Pollution Control Board has developed the

Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Index and identified 43 areas in India as critically polluted – see pib.nic.in 08 March 2010).

In spite of these double displacements and deprivations of their sources of life & livelihoods, many local people tried to manage their lives with whatever sources of income they could find from nature and from the occasional petty jobs in these new industries. As this phase of coal mining and power plants was driven by state owned (public sector) corporations, the interface between them and the local people was not brutal, though often tense. Often some of the families whose land was taken, were compensated with a manual-worker job in the plant or mine, along with the little monetary compensations. Many educated and enterprising youth of the area also got into petty supply and services businesses for these companies. A third category of sources of income for many of the poorest locals was ‘scavenging’ bits & pieces of coal left in the mining area, picking up small pieces of ‘scrap’ metal, and also ‘stealing’ a few junked & discarded items from these industrial plants which often lay on the peripheries of the plant boundaries. Incidents of pilferage of vehicle fuels etc. also became a source of earning – not unusual in these kind of mixed (better paid & cared for industrial workers, local petty business people and suppliers and the impoverished & displaced locals – mostly adivaasi) populations.

In the new century, after the ‘liberalization’ of the power sector – especially after the 2003 electricity act - the scenario in Singrauli changed again for the worse. Several mega coal power plants either started working or construction started, with most of these being in the private sector. The governments – both central and state - played the role of facilitators to these mega projects, with help in land acquisition, getting clearances, providing infrastructural facilities for setting these plants etc. The practices of the public sector coal mines & power companies – of trying to providing jobs (even if low paid ones) to those whose land has been acquired, got thrown out of the window. The coercive measures to force people out of their homes and lands increased, as did the violence against protesters. Also hit were the labour practices, as the private companies brought in labour from other states, mostly to avoid demands for adhering to proper working conditions and wages – which the local labour force often raised. These lead to further deprivations and marginalisation of the displaced locals.

As a result of this second transformation in the ground situation in Singrauli, many poorer people were left with no other option but to make a living out of ‘scavenging’ small amounts of left over coal or other scrap – legally cases of ‘stealing’ by a pushed-to-the-brink people, and putting them at the mercy of police and petty officers. Pushed to the brink over decades, it’s considered very easy to force these people to accept any condition or force them out without much compensation. Combined with the easy availability of coal and water from the Gobind Ballabh Pant Sagar reservoir of the Rihand dam, all kinds of large power & water guzzling dirty industries congregated here over the last 2-3 decades.

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Enter Reliance Sasan - a tale of deceit, ruthless displacement and exploitation.

Photo of Reliance Sasan UMPP (above) – Joe Athialy.

The large area in the then Sidhi district (new Singrauli district from 2008) that came under

Reliance Sasan UMPP’s adverse impact has many villages, five of which lost large amounts

of land. This was primarily agricultural area, with a large population of threatened but

constitutionally protected adivaasi (indigenous) people, from the tribes of Gond, Baiga,

Panika, Khairwar, Biyar, Kol etc. Indian constitution and laws often have special provision

for their land & property, most of which have been violated widely by Reliance Sasan (a

Google image of the plant under construction is given below. The stream leads to Rihand

reservoir, called the Govind Ballabh Pant sagar).

Visual 2 : The affected area when Reliance Sasan was under construction. The stream on

the right side of the frame, goes on to Rihand dam reservoir close by.

When Reliance Power owned the bid to construct the SASAN UMPP in 2007, based on its

lowest levelized tariff quotes, it also agreed to the standard conditions of compensations,

stakeholder consultations and rehabilitation. Many of these were clearly written down in

an agreement (copy of 1st page below – visual 3) that the chief operating officer of

Reliance Sasan, Mr G Dastidaar signed with the District Collector (administrative head of

the district) of the then Sidhi district, Shri Kedar Sharma, on 12th July 2007. These are the

first set of norms that Reliance Sasan had to comply with and agreed upon.

Visual 3 : Copy of 1st page of the agreement between the chief operating officer of Reliance Sasan (G Dastidaar) and then District Collector (Kedar Sharma) of un-divided Sidhi district, signed on 12th July 2007. This agreement lists out several compensation, rehabilitation etc conditions to be complied with by Reliance. This is from the official Gazetter of the State of Madhya Pradesh. Almost all of these conditions have been & continue to be violated by reliance, as per evidence. Second - the Clean Development Mechanism conditionalities of stakeholder consultation

with affected population, communication about the ‘benefits’ of CDM, sustainable

development of these people were to be complied with. Third, and very importantly, India

has specific laws regarding taking land of “adivaasiss” /scheduled tribes (tribal / indigenous

people) and they must be compensated /rehabilitated as per these laws & norms. In the two

successive field investigations undertaken – in January and April 2014, the later by a 7-

member international fact finding team, we found a very different picture from the rosy one

painted by the company on all of the above compliance requirements. The brutal manner of

many of these violations was a shock to even the members who are accustomed to seeing

the wide-spread corporate exploitation of afected people.

Stakeholder consultation – Though there was a consultation held on 28th April 2008, most

of the displaced and affected villagers had no information about this. A small circulation

local newspaper, ‘Satyaprabha’ carried the advertisement for this. Considering that there

are local newspapers with much larger circulation, like ‘Dainik Bhaskar’, ‘Patrika’ etc, and

that the large majority of affected villagers – and particularly the tribals – are illiterate, this

deceitful side-stepping of information requirement by Reliance Sasan was condemnable.

The district officials played along, helped by the govt push for large projects and the

‘incentives’ liberally provided by Reliance. The participation in this ‘consultation’ was heavy

with company officials, their contractors, district governmnet officials and police. The

villagers who did turn up had no voice. On top of that, we found that none in the affected

villages (there are five villages which are largely affecetd with land acquisition – Siddhi

Khurd, Siddhi Kalan, Harhrawaia, Tiyara and ) had any clear idea what the CDM is all about.

In addition, the coal mines Reliance Sasan was gifted on a platter – ‘Moher’ and ‘Amlori

Extension’, caused huge amounts of displacements, destruction of houses, farmlands &

forests and that of entire communities in these other villages. They were not even

informed. We have video testimonies of a number of the badly impacted villagers and they

all claimed that they had no idea about what was going on about anything else but the

wide-spread forcible acquistion and eviction. Even the word, ‘CDM’ was not familiar, not to

talk about the details of the Reliance Sasan CDM project.

Visaul 4 : displaced “Baiga” tribals/ adivaasis – no information of CDM, of compensation rules, of their Constitutional rights ! No electricity in their huts, while the Reliance Sasan transmission line runs behind. Large Scale violations of compensation, rehabilitation norms and rules – In our visits to

and discussions in village after affected village, we found innumerable tales of deceit,

ruthless exploitation of ill-informed villagers, brutal persecution of people demanding their

rights from Reliance Sasan, continuing violations of agreement conditionalities and even

national laws about scheduled tribes.

The point number 8 in the agreement (visual 3 above) between Reliance Sasan and the

district government clearly binds Reliance to giving a reasonable job to at least one member

of all farmer’s families whose land has been acquired for the project. In our wide-spread

enquiry, we found that less than a dozen such people were given jobs. Some displaced were

given lowly paid daily-wage manual work with sub-contractors, but without any security of

job or other associated benefits. Most of the displaced kept giving petitions, writing appeals

to both the Reliance officials and the (newly created – in 2008) Singrauli district

administration (some time even up to the Chief Minister of the State of Madhya Pradesh),

for many years, without getting anything in return. Many of the displaced and cheated

villagers (like the two in the picture below) didn’t even know to read & write, to whom to go

but the lowly Reliance officials who threatened them to move out, about laws and

agreements.

Visual 5 : Two elderly adivaasi/ tribal people, who have never heard of any consultation,

never heard of CDM, never got any job for their family members, were compensated very

poorly for their lost-land, have not got the old-age pension that was in the

agreement………. FactFinding team members in the background.

Some better equipped villagers kept writing and visiting the Reliance officers, district

government officials, district police head and even to the head of government in the state.

Few could manage to get copy of the ‘Ideal Rehabilitation Policy 2002’ of the state, and

referred this in their letters /petitions. A copy of such a petition (visual 6 below) by the

badly affected people of Harrahawaia (large parts of which are under Reliance Ash pond

now) is reproduced below. We have seen a number of such petitions that many of the

affected villagers have written/ sent over the years. The CDM-related falsehoods/ lies along

with many such violations are glaringly clear from many such desparate petitions and

appeals.

(an array of denials, vioaltions and deceit by Reliance – points below)

Point no 2 of the petition (to the Collector or adminstrative head of the district; similar

petitions to the Superintendent of Police, to the Chief Minister of the State etc we have got

from the locals) says – “Reliance is doing wide-spread violations of the “Ideal Rehabilitation

Policy 2002” and the Collector should ensure that this is complied with.

Point no 3 of the petition says – “many of the displaced belongs to scheduled caste and

scheduled tribes, and as per policy they should be compensated with equal amount of land,

which the company has not done or not entertaining.”

Point no 4 says – “most of the acquired property are land with built houses, wells, fruit-trees

etc, and as per state policy, these were to be compensated for along with compensation for

land. The company is not giving compensations for these, and the collector should ensure

receipt of this compensation.” The assessment for these ‘other’ assets, along with land were

done, and a copy of one such is reproduced below –

Visual 5b : Assessment of acquired assets, including land, house, trees, wells…..

Point no 5 – “State rehabilitation policy says (the agreement between Reliance chief

operating officer and then district collector also has the same condition) that Reliance has

to give a reasonable job to at least one member of each farmer family whose land has been

acquired. The company has not done this and the collector should ensure this”. Please note

that some of these petitions are sent in 2013, meaning that from 2008 onwards, Reliance

Sasan has kept on violating all these conditions, laws, and agrrements.

Point no 6 says – “Reliance is cheating even scheduled caste and scheduled tribes (some of

the poorest and most backward people here) and even though the policy says that special

attention is to be paid to SCs/ STs, Reliance is using many devious means to avoid these”.

Point no 7 – “Policy and agreement says that new places of rehabilitation are to be made as

livable as their old places/ villages, but Reliance is not not doing these, and the

administartion may please ensure this”.

Point no 9 says – “the houses, land, domestic animals etc of the named 18-19 families are

getting submerged under the polluted water of the (Reliance Sasan) ash-pond, which has

started even before relocating the these people from whom 35 Acres of title-land and 20

Acres of traditionally used land are being acquired by Reliance Sasan for the ash-pond.

Tribal /adivaasi people are facing multiple threats from these (and the administration may

please ensure proper relocation and rehabilitation, which Reliance has not done).”

Point nos 10 & 11 says – “ that we the adivaasi (indigenous/ tribal) people have submitted

many applications over the years to company (Reliance) to district and state administration

about our rights to land-for-land, jobs, schoold, roads, health centres, electricity, water

supply etc – which have not been given by Reliance. This be ensured at the earliest”.

Visual 6 : Copy of petition by the displaced villagers to district collector, about large scale

violations and non-compliance by Reliance and their devious ways, even cheating – as spelt out in

petition after petition.

‘Sustainable development’ of the Local population – As the previous section shows, instead

of this CDM project leading to sustainable development of the people around, or even those

adversely affected by the project, the only result has been deprivation of the already

impacted people, terrorizing the residents with multiple means to vacate their land &

houses and to accept ‘whatever’ the company is willing to give. The company has claimed in

its CDM application that the project contributes to sustainable development of “India” –

quote below from its CDM – PDD -

The many examples given above show the falsehoods and hollowness of these claims. One

of the ‘beneficiaries’ in Reliance’s list, a Baiga tribal (Scheduled tribe) whose land & house

has been taken over by Reliance Sasan, is pictured below. He is supposedly getting old-age

pension, but his body, blank stares etc clearly shows the state of his ‘empowerment and

welfare’, which Reliance Sasan advertises as its social performance.

Visual 7 : The Physical & mental well being of a displaced ‘beneficiary’ of Reliance is clear.

On their false claims about stake-holder consultations, a report in local newspapers on 25-

04-14 (visual 8 below), reports that the owner of Reliance Power – Mr Anil Ambani, who

visited the plant on that day, had not even bothered to meet the assembled adversely

impacted local people who gathered in large numbers in the hope of some hearing of their

deprivations and increasing problems due to Reliance project.

Visual 8 : One of the reports in local newspaper (Dainik Bhaskar, April 25, 2014 – headline

– “Multi-billionaire didn’t had time even to meet the displaced”), again clearly shows that

1. Reliance has no intention of even listening to the multiple grievances of the people

badly affected by their project, 2. In spite of the claims of clean & modern technology, the

particulate emissions are unusually massive, causing health problems; 3. Despite not

taking care of the displaced , Reliance Power owner Anil Ambani is planning to invest

another INR 15,000 Crore (about USD 2.5 billion) in expansion; 4. Coal dust was

enveloping the area even on that day.

Reliance has also not shown any sensitivity to the massive pollution it is causing, impacting

the health of surrounding population. Even many complaints by the better informed and

connected urban groups and people (one such complaint – written to the Chairperson of the

Central Pollution Control Board of India - copy reproduced below), have just been ignored,

knowing fully well that the district administration is with the company, not the affected

people.

Visual 9 : Complaint to the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) by Singrauli based urban

group, about massive pollution being caused by the Reliance Sasan plant. The complaint

also says that the coal conveyor belt is also spreading huge amounts of dust, but no one is

listening to the complaints of the suffering people.

Continuing violations of labour laws /rights : Another aspect of their social responsibility is

reflected in the company’s behaviour with the rightful needs & demands of the people who

got some petty jobs with the company and its sub-contractors. There are many such

examples but Mr Satiprasad’s (picture below) case is a good example. He is a project

affected person from Siddhi Khurd village, and got a casual labour job with one of the sub-

contractors. Being of a fighting spirit, he could not silently bear all the injustices, the many

violations perpetrated by Reliance.

Visual 8 : SatiPrasad Rajak, the ‘brutalized’ protester

The wage payments were below the government prescribed norms, the working hours were

much longer – without any overtime, there was no surety of getting wage-work for the next

week etc. He started organizing other such exploited workers and gave notice to the

company about this. The evening before he was to address a company gate meeting on

this, the district police picked him up, stripped him naked, hung him upside down inside the

police station and beat him (with the personal involvement of the district superintendent of

police, Mr Jayadevan himself) severely till he fell unconscious. The police repeatedly asked

him what he will tell his fellow exploited workers about demanding better working

conditions, and as the terrorized Satiprasad informed that whatever rightful dues are they

will ask for that – he was brutally beaten. These cases show how Reliance Sasan has

terrorized the local affected population with the active participation of the district

administration and the police, so that people do not dare raise their voices.

Most of the construction work is sub-contracted out, and both Reliance and its sub-

contractors avoid taking too many locals on these casual jobs also, as the locals have some

standing here and demanded rightful wages and work-hours. Large majority of these casual

labour force is from the very poor & distant states of Jharkhand & Bihar, and are taken so

that they can be pushed hard without complaint. Another continuous complaint is that

there were large numbers of accidental deaths within the power plant complex, ad in most

cases the dead or seriously injured workers were shifted out to other places, to not offer

proper compensation or benefits.

Quoting from their CDM-PDD on Environmental sustainability –

Whenever the FF team visited the area, they failed to find any significant green belt work

around the plant, though the evidence of fairly large scale tree-felling activities are visible.

In terms of even clearly technical matters – like particulate and other emissions, and on

which Reliance CDM-PDD has tall claims (1st line above from Environmental sustainability),

Reliance Sasan has not followed the minimum environmental standards. Even on a day (25th

April 2014) when its all powerful multi-billionaire owner Anil Ambani visited the plant, the

stacks of the “most modern” super-critical technology Reliance Sasan plant kept emitting

huge amounts of visibly dirty polluting gas-particulate toxic combo (picture above). Even

some of the much older, non-super-critical coal plants of NTPC (national Thermal Power

Corporation – a Govt of India owned company) in Singrauli do not generally emit so much.

Even its huge ash-pond, after submerging farms, houses, schools, grazing land etc., is

continuing to spoil outside farmlands and houses. The leaked toxic water keeps getting

through the dykes (picture below) and poison the agricultural lands of people who has got

no compensations.

Visual 10 : Toxic ash-pond water leaking and contaminating nearby farm-lands, without

Reliance Sasan even acknowledging the loss, not to talk about compensation or

correction.

The many violations and illegalities of Reliance Sasan does not end with the exploitation of

local people and natural resources of the area only. The Amlori extension coal mines that

Reliance managed to annexe was originally allotted by the government in 1982 to

government owned Coal India Limited (which was to be worked by its subsidiary, Northern

Coalfields Limited). The overburden of this Reliance operated coal mines was dumped –

not likely to be without purpose – over another govt owned & allocated mine area -

Semaria. There are indications that this will also go the Amlori way. It is perplexing what

machinations /’facilitations’ Reliance managed to get this illegal act. In these mine areas

also, hundreds of Baiga tribal were forced out ruthlesslesly, and the lead role was played by

another retired official of the Govt owned Nothern Coalfields – Mr TVS Tiwary, who was

offered a high paid job in Reliance Sasan, and who is specially known for his crafty and

ruthless ways. A case was filed by Babu Mahendra Singh of the erstwhile ruling family of the

area, asking for compensation for tribals and other legitimate demands. His brother was

then slapped with a number of false cases of petty crimes, to intimidate and force him in

withdrawing the cases.

Tales like that abound in the area, not dozens but hundreds. All of them tell a tale of a

ruthless, deceiving, no-care-for-legalities, high-connection exploiting company which do not

think twice of exploiting the poorest, the weakest, the residents—anyone or any thing, for

its profits and expansion. The name’s Reliance, Reliance sasan UMPP, and it’s a Clean

Development in the eyes of some !

=============== Soumya Dutta, soumyadutta.delhi@gmail.com ===============