Coal chronicles

As India strides towards green energy, Angul’s miners, dispossessed of land and now livelihood, grapple with the bitter legacy of progress.

Odisha’s Angul district has the largest deposits of power-grade coal in India. Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd (MCL), a subsidiary of the public sector Coal India Ltd (CIL), operates eight mines here, mainly in Talcher, and is one of the most profitable units in the country.

The collieries of Hingula mines. | Photo Credit: Jennifer Kishan

Coal is the fulcrum on which the lives of the people of Angul turn, present in the very air they breathe, their religion and livelihood. The mines, however, have always been a point of contention. While they have brought jobs and economic opportunities, they have also swallowed up vast swathes of forests, severely polluted the water and air, and displaced thousands of people.

Road signs marking the elephant corridor in the pristine forests en route to Chhendipara. | Photo Credit: Jennifer Kishan

India depends on coal to meet 75 per cent of its electricity needs and 55 per cent of its overall energy needs. At the Glasgow Climate Summit in 2021 (COP26), India committed itself to achieving carbon neutrality by 2070, promising to transition from coal, oil, and gas to green energy in the coming years.

The Hingula mines are named after the goddess, Hingula Devi, who is believed to descend on earth for nine days in summer as a heap of self-combusting coal, granting all the wishes of her devotees. A worshipper offers libation to the goddess in this picture. | Photo Credit: Jennifer Kishan

The Dubai Consensus at the end of COP28 in December 2023 asked all countries to switch from fossil fuels in accordance with the Paris Agreement. Whether the world adopts a “phase out” or “phase down” approach to fossil fuels, the transition has to be just, taking into account the needs of the most vulnerable sections. Introducing green energy without elaborate planning can mean the loss of jobs, an increase in food insecurity, and a further plunge into abject poverty for the majority of the coal-mining community.

Coal is the fulcrum on which the lives of the people of Angul turn. | Photo Credit: Jennifer Kishan

Even at present, there is a huge disparity between the pay packages of contractual workers and permanent staffers in the coal mines. “More than 20 members of my family joined the mines in the years following the sale of our land in 2002. I too hope to get a permanent job here soon,” said Narendra Kumar Naik, a contractual supervisor in Angul’s Hingula mines who earns Rs.25,000 a month. A permanent worker, on the other hand, makes Rs.1.5 lakh a month.

Dera Village in Talcher has been facing unemployment ever since the mines shut down there. The mines have left the environment ravaged too. | Photo Credit: Jennifer Kishan

The contractual worker Jagannath Parida, 29, earns Rs.18,000 a month with no other benefits apart from the one-room quarters he shares with Imran Ansari, 36, a contractual engineer who trains workers on heavy machinery. Ansari gets paid a little more than Parida, but his contract will end soon and there is no guarantee it will be renewed.

A labourer makes ash bricks out of the residue from coal mines. The ash bricks are used in construction. | Photo Credit: Jennifer Kishan

When the mines close, the contractual workers will be hit the hardest since they have limited skills, meagre savings, and no severance packages. However, owing to its high productivity, Angul will be one of the last mining regions to be shut down. For now, there is no possibility of a closure. Rather, new mines are being opened, with production predicted to peak in 2033.

Jagannath mines of the MCL in Talcher. | Photo Credit: Jennifer Kishan

In Chhendipara, another coal-dense region, pristine forests have been cut down for new mines. “The new generation does not have the emotional connect we have with our land.

Excavation underway in the open-cast Jagannath mines. | Photo Credit: Jennifer Kishan

They have understood that we cannot fight the big coal companies. Chhendipara will soon become another Talcher—soot black,” said Ashok Pradhan, 50, a former Block Chairman of Chhendipara. As new mines are auctioned, villagers who once protested are now resigned to the inevitable.

Paramananda Godanayak, 57, is one of the protestors against land acquisition for the mines. At Nanchod village, Chhendipara. | Photo Credit: Jennifer Kishan

Lakaipasi village, about 15 km from Hingula, is soon to be devoured by the MCL’s opencast Bharatpur mines. About 2,500 villagers await the compensation and resettlement packages promised to them by the company.

Villagers in Lakaipasi village of Talcher play a game of dice while awaiting the verdict mining companies. | Photo Credit: Jennifer Kishan

A villager, Lucky Das (name changed), 50, said, as he sat playing a game of dice with his friends: “We left our lands years ago. I still remember where my house once was.” Pointing to the deep mines, at the fringes of which Lakaipasi lies, he added: “Each family has been promised a job. Each house has been paid for. We are only waiting to finalise the rehabilitation site with MCL.”

Trucks are lined up, waiting to get filled with coal. | Photo Credit: Jennifer Kishan

He had a philosophical attitude towards the loss of land. “It’s a tough deal but it was inevitable. We sit on black diamond. We are not the first village to be taken by the mines and we will not be the last. We can only compare packages with other villages and negotiate the best price for ourselves,” he said.

A security guard at the Lingaraj mines takes a long-deserved break from the day’s work. | Photo Credit: Jennifer Kishan

Jennifer Kishan is an independent journalist based in Kolkata who writes on environment, migration, rights-based issues, and art and culture. This story was produced with support from Internews’ Earth Journalism Network.