Ambikapur. Villagers have submitted a memorandum to the Chief Minister for smooth operation of Parsa East Kete Basen (PEKB) coal mine located in Udaipur block of the district and to start Parsa Coal Block (PCB) located in Premnagar block of Surajpur district. A group of about 20 tribal villagers including Chandarkeshwar Porte, Raghunandan Porte from village Salhi of these two districts, Mukesh Yadav, Munna Yadav, Harishchandra and others from village Ghatbarra, Samal Singh Porte, Keshav Porte, Dhanshyam Porte from Fatehpur, Rangilal Markam, Shivratan, Babulal Yadav from Tara, Rajeshwar Das of Hariharpur, Nemsai Korram reached Raipur. Here they submitted a memorandum in support of PEKB coal mine and PCB running in their area in the Chief Minister’s residence office.
In the memorandum signed by more than 400 villagers, it is written that, “Parsa East and Kete Basen coal mines allotted to Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited have been operating for the last 12 years. Thousands of local people from dozens of nearby villages are earning their livelihood by working in this mine, but at present the necessary land is not available for the continuous operation of PEKB coal mine. This is affecting the mining work. Therefore, it is very important to provide 104 hectares of forest land required for its smooth operation, because its absence will affect the production in the mine, due to which, along with us villagers working here, the jobs of about 10,000 people in the vicinity directly and indirectly will end and our livelihood will be snatched away.”
At the same time, the affected people of Parsa coal block, Rangilal Markam, Shivratan, Babulal Yadav of village Tara and Moharsai Porte, Rahul Das, Buddhiman Singh and other villagers of Salhi have written in the memorandum that “The work of compensation distribution for the acquired land in villages Salhi, Ghatbarra and Janardanpur is almost over. The process of compensation distribution for the acquired land in the remaining three villages Hariharpur, Fatepur and Tara is going on. The compensation for the land affected by this coal block has also been provided to us by the Parsa coal block management. After accepting the compensation amount, we are continuously trying to get the benefits under the rehabilitation scheme.
Tribal villagers Rajeshwar Das, Nemsai Korram of village Hariharpur, Samal Singh Porte, Keshwar Porte, Dhanshyam Porte of Fatehpur told that “All the required permissions have been obtained from the government by the management to start the operation of Parsa coal block, but the operation of the mine has not been started yet. Last year, an attempt was made to start the operation of the said coal mine, but some external elements disrupted the project and got the Parsa coal block closed. Due to this, the facilities available under the scheme such as employment, education, health, electricity, road etc. are not being received, while many development works are going on in the villages of PEKB mine. All of us are still untouched by this. We have become homeless and unemployed due to not getting employment and after giving away the land, there is no means of livelihood and income left.”
Chandarkeshwar Porte, Raghunandan Porte of village Salhi, Mukesh Yadav of village Ghatbarra told that, “Before the opening of PEKB coal mine, the condition of all the villagers was very pathetic. There was lack of employment, education, health and other basic facilities here, but since the opening of the coal mine, many efforts have been made by the coal mine management for the development of these villages, in which a Central Board school has been opened for the education of children, in which free education, bus service, books, uniforms, breakfast and food have been arranged for the children in the school. Apart from this, the villagers are being given free treatment from the hospital in village Gumga, 24-hour ambulance service and better treatment is being given to the elderly through medical camps in the villages. Therefore, the standard of living of all these people has improved due to the mine operation. In order to maintain the biodiversity and environmental balance of the area, after mining, the mine management has leveled more than 1100 acres of land and planted more than 11.50 lakh trees, which mainly include wild plants of Sal, Harra, Bahera, Khair, Sisham, Teak etc. and fruit plants of Mango, Jamun, Jackfruit, Tendu etc., which have now grown into trees and formed a dense forest.
In this way, on one hand, thousands of people working here are facing the threat of losing their jobs due to non-availability of necessary land for PEKB mine. On the other hand, due to non-starting of PEKB mine despite giving land, villagers have once again appealed to Chief Minister Vishnudev Sai with the hope of employment and development.
