Adani Power Plant and Coal Plans Threatened By Landowners
Cranes and a giant steel skeleton stand behind the home of Chinta Mani Shah, a retired schoolteacher from Motia village outside of Godda in the state of Jharkhand, north-eastern India. “My intent was to build an ashram here,” he says.
“My vision was to be of some benefit to the local farmers by combining the best of modern and scientific ways of farming.
“Then the Adani company came,” he adds, gesturing to the structure being built behind him.”
The structure arising behind his land is a thermal coal-fired power plant owned by Adani Power Limited, which has a contract to supply electricity to neighbouring Bangladesh.
It is more than 8,000 kilometres from Godda to the Galilee Basin in Queensland.
Yet the two districts are entwined: coal from Adani’s Carmichael mine, currently being built in Australia’s last untapped coal region, is expected to supply fuel for the power plant at Godda.
That’s if the plant goes ahead.
It’s at the centre of a major land rights battle.
Mr Shah is among a group of local villagers who spoke to a local filmmaker, who shared the interviews and vision with the ABC.
Mr Shah is also one of the parties in a legal challenge before the High Court of Jharkhand.
Allegations of ‘coercion, fraud and undue influence’
The case filed with the court accuses Adani and its agents of using “coercion, fraud [and] undue influence” to illegally exclude thousands of people affected by the development from a required social impact assessment.
The claimants allege that a key meeting was full of labourers “from far away” who were paid to attend a crucial public hearing about the development and — in conjunction with local police — used brutal force to keep villagers opposed to Adani’s project out.
“Thousands of people gathered to go into the venue site but they were prevented both by the police, who were acting as agents of private company Adani Power Limited, as well as by their security guards,” the writ filed with the court alleges. “The situation was so bad that the police lathi [baton] charged the affected families. When they tried to attend the public hearing were beaten mercilessly.”
Adani flatly rejects these allegations.
“Adani Power Jharkhand Limited (APJL) has always upheld and respected the local traditions, customs and religious sentiments of the local people since the inception of its work at Godda more than four years ago,” a company spokesperson responded in a written statement.
“It neither supports nor has been involved in any act of aggression against any of these stakeholders.” In a highly unusual move, Adani posted this statement on Twitter in answer to the ABC’s questions at roughly the same time as it sent it to the ABC, well ahead of publication.
Residents challenge land acquisition
The court case also challenges the forced takeover of land for the development by the State Government on behalf of Adani.
Under Indian law, a government can only acquire land for a private company if the project is for “public purpose”.
The claimants argue the project does not meet the definition of “public purpose” under the law. The state of Jharkhand denies all the allegations being put by the claimants and is contesting the court action.
Adani also rejects the claimants’ assessment, saying it has arrangements to provide some of the plant’s power to Jharkhand state.
“As per the Prime Ministers’ [sic] Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) the net 1,496 MW of the total energy produced at Godda (1,600 MW) will be given to Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB), Bangladesh,” it notes in its statement.
“However, as per the MOU signed with the Government of Jharkhand, up to 25 per cent of the energy produced i.e. up to 400 MW, will be offered to Jharkhand at a rate to be decided by the Electricity
Regulatory Commission of Jharkhand from other sources, or also from operational plants of the Adani Group, if available.”
The irony is that Jharkhand is a resource-rich state, accounting for more than 40 per cent of the mineral resources of India, and the Adani power project is situated amid some of the richest coal deposits in the nation.
Adani’s own Jitpur coal mine is just kilometres away from the project site; when the plant was first proposed five years ago, this was to be the source of the coal.
But those plans rapidly changed, apparently because under Indian law domestic coal cannot be used for thermal power projects that will export electricity to another country.
Just over three rupees
When questioned by the ABC about pricing, Adani responded: “The tariff from the Adani Power
Jharkhand Limited India (APJL) power station at Godda includes the cost of transmission and will be much lower than the prevailing electricity tariff in Bangladesh.” The company did not answer what it would be relative to prevailing Indian prices.
Mr Buckley argues the cost-plus electricity contract, signed with the state-owned Bangladesh Power Development Board, is clearly designed to benefit Adani and is, at least in part, an attempt to prop up Adani Enterprises’ Carmichael coal project in Australia.
“Why Bangladesh would agree to such a lop-sided contract is the $2 billion question,” Mr Buckley tells the ABC.
‘Land is indispensable to a Santhal’
The patriarch of the Adani business empire, Gautam Adani, is one of the richest men in India, while many of the villagers affected by the Godda power project are from the other end of the wealth spectrum.
Some are from the lowest castes in the Hindu religion and others are from an Indigenous tribal group known as the Santhal.
Santhal
Archaeologists estimate that the Santhal have been in eastern India for up to 65,000 years.
Like Aboriginal Australians, they have an ancient and spiritual connection to the land that has long been recognised in legislation.
“Land is indispensable to a Santhal,” a local villager explained to the independent Indian filmmaker who shared her interviews with the ABC.
“It is an intrinsic part of culture. “The Santhal tribe and their land are like two sides of one coin. recently been watered down.