New Delhi: Two mining projects in Chhattisgarh have become symbolic of the current chaos in the Congress — interim president Sonia Gandhi proposes, former president Rahul Gandhi disposes. One chief minister defends the projects, his health minister sides with those protesting against them. A second Congress CM lobbies for the projects to tide over a power crisis, but the first puts them on the backburner to buy peace amid a power tussle.
In the process, it looks like one of the party’s tallest satraps — one of its only two CMs right now — has been overruled by the party.
That, in a nutshell, describes the controversy over two mining projects — the Parsa East and Kente Basan coal mine (PEKB) and Parsa Open Cast projects — in Chhattisgarh’s Hasdeo Arand forests.
This week, in just a matter of two days, CM Bhupesh Baghel went from chastising those opposing the projects, to declaring that “not a single tree will be cut” for them until T.S. Singh Deo — Chhattisgarh Health Minister and MLA for Surguja, of which the Hasdeo Arand forests are a part — gives his consent.
The Chhattisgarh government had given final approvals for mining in the two coal blocks — phase 2 of PEKB and Parsa open cast coal mine — earlier this year.
According to activists, the Parsa projects will require the cutting down of 200,000 trees spread across 841 hectares of forest land. Local residents have been protesting against the projects since March. Singh Deo met the protesters earlier this week, and extended his support to them.
“Whether a bullet is fired or a stick is raised [against the protesters], I will be the first to take a bullet and the stick,” Singh Deo said.
A day after, CM Baghel, said no trees will be cut without Singh Deo’s consent.
On Thursday, Surguja district collector Sanjeev Jha was quoted as saying that for “all departmental or official purposes” the mining projects have been put on hold.
The CM’s retreat on the mining projects comes amid a reported power tussle between him and Singh Deo, who is said to be lobbying with the Congress leadership for the CM’s post. However, the party high command seems to have agreed to let Baghel continue till the next elections in 2023.
Even senior Congress leader and former party president Rahul Gandhi said at an event in the UK last month that the protesters at Hasdeo Arand “were justified in some ways”.
ThePrint reached Singh Deo by phone and text messages, but did not receive a response by the time of publishing this report. A response was also awaited from Chhattisgarh Congress chief Mohan Markam, who was reached by phone call and text. This report will be updated when a response is received.
The two projects in Chhattisgarh are also of interest to Rajasthan, to fuel its power plants. The execution of the mining projects has been allotted to a subsidiary of the Rajasthan government, the Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Udpadan Nigam Limited (RRVUNL).
Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot has written to Sonia Gandhi seeking her intervention in getting the Chhattisgarh government to expedite the process of granting permits for the mining projects. Delays in granting permit could cause generation of approximately 4,340 MW power in Rajasthan to come to a standstill, Gehlot said.
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The Rajasthan angle
Surguja district officials have been quoted in the media as saying that while there has been no official order from the Chief Minister’s Office to put a hold on the mining projects, district officials have taken a cue from his response to Singh Deo’s statement in support of the protesters.
Meanwhile, sources in the Chhattisgarh CMO told ThePrint that more than an environmental issue, the controversy over the mining projects has become an issue of political posturing between Baghel and Singh Deo.
“Since Rahul (Gandhi) said in the UK that the protests are justified, T.S. Singh Deo is using it as means to settle a political score. He’s telling protesters that he’s in touch with Rahul (Gandhi) and that he’s on their side, whereas the CM has been very clear that the projects need to continue,” said a top functionary in the Chhattisgarh government.
He added: “It is imperative to understand that we (the Chhattisgarh government) don’t have much to do with the projects. It is to help the coal crisis in Rajasthan, another Congress-(ruled) state.”
The functionary also pointed out that the allocation of coal blocks is done by the central government and only clearances are handled by states.
In 2015, the central government had allocated three coal blocks in Surguja to RRVUNL, but only one of them could begin mining operations due to procedural delays.
The deposits in the operational mine have now been exhausted, putting RRVUNL power plants at the risk of shutting down unless the other two mines become operational.
Between December 2021 and February 2022, Gehlot wrote to Sonia Gandhi twice to secure an intervention in expediting the clearance process by the state government to start mining at PEKB mine and Parsa Open Cast mine.
In his second letter, Gehlot requested Sonia to intervene in the matter and advise Baghel to “ensure” that all the requisite pending approvals are arranged.
The two CMs had then met in Raipur in March, after which the Chhattisgarh government gave the final clearances for both the projects.
However, soon after, protests by the area’s tribal residents against the projects intensified, with the protesters claiming that consent for the projects was falsely taken from the gram sabhas in the area.
While the Chhattisgarh CM has in the past pushed for the need to continue the projects, statements made by Singh Deo and Rahul Gandhi appear to have made him reconsider his stance.
“The CM has (also) responded to the BJP which has been making an issue of this. He has said that, if required, why doesn’t the central government cancel the allocation?” said the functionary quoted above.
The BJP has been attacking the Chhattisgarh government over the controversial mining project.
‘Baghel putting onus on Singh Deo’
Speaking to ThePrint, a second senior functionary in the Chhattisgarh government said that CM Baghel was “putting the onus” on Singh Deo.
“The mines are of Rajasthan government and the allotment process was done with the full knowledge and intervention of the Congress high command. So how can we cancel it now? If it was a decision taken after consultation with the party, then any decision after this will also be taken in consultation with the party.
“Baghel is just putting the onus on Singh Deo, since this is a Congress matter. And if he has a problem, then he should discuss it with the high command. Baghel will not interfere in that conversation,” said the functionary.
He added that there has been “no talk” of cancelling the mining licences.
Both functionaries claimed that the issue was being used by Singh Deo as a political ploy, to “gain attention” after it was decided that he will not be taking over as CM from Baghel, as said to have been decided under a 50-50 formula devised in 2018.
Baghel, while agreeable to that formula at the time, is now unwilling to vacate his position, with only about a year and a half to go before the next state election, said sources.
Sources in the party also said that while the leadership has now agreed to let Baghel continue, they are trying to pacify Singh Deo in order to avoid another factional showdown in yet another state.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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