Government allowed Adani's mine expansion despite existing mines' unextracted deposits
What's the story
Fresh details have emerged in the Adani-Hasdeo Arand coal mining row, revealing that Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government cleared the expansion of a coal mine run by the Adani Group despite government-funded studies establishing the presence of unextracted coal in existing mines.
The expansion of coal mines means large-scale deforestation, which causes ecological imbalance, while superficial extraction implies lower costs and higher profit margins.
Context
Why does this story matter?
The report comes at a time when the BJP government is under fire for allegedly extending unwarranted favors to the Adani Group at the expense of public welfare.
Notably, the coalfield lies in the Hasdeo Arand forest, also called the lungs of Chhattisgarh.
Foreseeing displacement, tribal groups protested against the expansion of mines. After a prolonged agitation, the state government halted forest land clearing.
Clearance
3,000 acres of forest land cleared for mining
The Centre reportedly approved the clearing of around 3,000 acres of forest land for the expansion of a coal mine in the Hasdeo Arand coalfield.
However, studies conducted between May 2019 and February 2021 by the Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education and the Wildlife Institute of India showed millions of tons of coal lay unextracted at the bottom of the existing mine.
Details
BJP-led Rajasthan government entered joint venture agreement with Adani Group
Notably, the Union Coal Ministry allocated the Parsa East and Kanta Basan mine in the Hasdeo Arand coalfield to the Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut Utpadan Nigam Limited (Rajasthan power discom).
Government companies usually outsource mining to private firms.
However, under the BJP-led Rajasthan government in 2007, the Rajasthan power discom entered a joint venture agreement with the Adani Group, giving the conglomerate a 74% stake.
Coal block
SC canceled coal block allocations in 2014
In 2014, the Supreme Court canceled all coal block allocations, prompting the Centre to issue fresh allocations.
Most government companies invited fresh bids from private players, but Rajasthan continued with its joint venture.
Due to this, the state has reportedly been paying a significantly higher price for coal with a major portion of the profits going to the Adani Group.
Congress
Rajasthan government claimed first phase coal reserves exhausted
After the Congress came to power in Rajasthan in 2018, the discom sought the expansion of the project from the Centre, claiming that coal reserves in the 762 hectares of area cleared in the first phase were exhausted.
The second phase of the project necessitates the felling of around 2.5 lakh trees over 1,137 hectares and the displacement of the forest village of Ghatbarra.
Mines
Three seams hold 452 million tons of mineable coal
Per reports, the Parsa East and Kanta Basan mines have six coal seams with a total depth of 225 meter.
Over 452 million tons of mineable coal lie in the three bottom seams. The coal is stratified between layers of soil, called overburden.
The government-approved mining plan states that 2,362.72 cubic meters of overburden need to be removed to extract the entire coal deposit.
Figures
Expansion sought after extracting 63 million tons of coal
The report also revealed that instead of the average envisaged stripping ratio (the ratio of overburden to extracted coal) of 4.13 cubic meters per ton, the stripping ratio in September 2020 was 2.32 cubic meters per ton, with 63 million tons of coal extracted.
Experts said that the Adani Group steered clear of digging deeper, reducing the cost of extraction while maximizing profit margins.