As the situation came to a head for villagers of Fatehpur on March 29, Muneshwar Singh Porte resolved not to vote in the Lok Sabha election.
As in any other morning, while women were away in the forests to collect mahua fruit and the men engaged elsewhere under the MGNREGA, several officials accompanied by more than 100 policemen descended on the village in the Surguja constituency of Chhattisgarh that day, to survey land to be acquired for the Parsa opencast coal mine. The constituency goes to the polls on Tuesday.
“One of the children saw them measure our land and houses with tapes, and came running to us with the news. He told us that some of them had guns too,” Mr. Porte, 22, says.
Sensing another attempt by officials to take over land for the 841.5-ha mine, villagers made a dash back home in a clearing of Hasdeo Arand, one of the largest contiguous forest stretches in the country. “We drove them away with lathis,” he says. Since 2018, residents of six villages, already reeling under the operational Parsa East and Kente Basan mines nearby, have been resisting inducements to give up their land.
‘Falsified consent’
During gram sabhas in 2018, they say, officials falsified their consent for takeover, though it was not on the agenda during any of the meetings. And now there is no one to heed their complaints.
Disgruntled at the political indifference to their woes, villagers of Fatehpur and Hariharpur, facing displacement, have decided to boycott the election.
Their resolve became stronger especially after the attempted survey and in-principle environment clearance to the mine in January. On April 9, they wrote to the Collector announcing the decision.
“All the political parties are corporate-friendly. We voted against the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the State in 2018 as it didn’t stand by us. Now, the Congress has been giving us assurances but to no avail. We have lost faith in our leaders and democracy. What difference will it make even if we vote someone to power? Aren’t they all the same?” asks Sukhmaniya of Hariharpur.
“We’ve lost faith in the system. There is point of even pressing NOTA,” she says.
Her husband, a cleaner at the PEKB mines, says he will not vote until his two sons get the jobs promised by Adani Enterprises, which operates the mines.
The Parsa mine is controlled by Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Ltd. and will be operated by Rajasthan Collieries Ltd., a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises.
Water diverted
“We don’t want another mine here. We’ve seen how the previous one has uprooted our lives. Water from the only source around has been diverted. Despite having irrigated fields, we have to rely on rain. Earlier, we used to sow fields in both the seasons, but now it’s only kharif,” says Sukhmaniya.
Villagers, however, say they will take part in the panchayat election in the State later this year.
“The sarpanch listens to us. He took our cause forward and has been fighting for us, whereas those in Parliament mean nothing to us now,” says Balsai Korram, Fatehpur janpad member.