The owner of a large coal mine operated by Adani in central India has sought an expansion of the mine from 5 to 7 million tonnes per annum. Meanwhile, many families displaced by the mine have been living in temporary, ramshackle dwellings for more than three years. Approval of the Suliyari coal mine was rushed through by the Modi government in 2021 and now the mine’s expansion is likely to get the same fast-track treatment.
Key facts and figures
- Coal block: Suliyari
- Owner: Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation
- MDO (Mine Developer and Operator): Adani Enterprises Limited
- Coalfield: Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh
- Coal reserves: 109 million tons
- Total geological area: 1298 hectares
- Forest area: 39 hectares
- Existing capacity of mine: 5 million tons per annum
- Proposed capacity of mine: 7 million tons per annum
- Project cost: Rs 386.20 crore (US $45 million)
In the Singrauli coalfields of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, Adani Enterprises has been operating a coal mine owned by a state-owned company, the Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Corporation. The Suliyari mine’s go-ahead was approved in 2021 (after intervention by the Modi government). Now, the mine owner (with Adani’s support and assistance) is seeking to expand the mine’s rate of extraction by 40% and has applied to the reliably compliant Modi government for approval. The company has cited an amendment made to Indian environmental regulations by the Modi government in April 2022 in order to bypass the need for a public hearing about the matter.
Meanwhile, scores of families already displaced by the Adani-operated Suliyari coal mine await resettlement.
The 1298-ha Suliyari mining project, owned by a public-sector mineral development enterprise of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, is in the Singrauli coalfields of central India where Adani Group owns a clutch of coal mines in forested areas. The socio-economic study conducted before establishing the mine found that 1386 households would be displaced for the project (See Section 54.8.2 (11) of document). Of these, 35% belonged to marginalised communities.
At least eight villages in the Singrauli district of the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh have already been affected by the coal mine. These are the villages of Belwar, Bijauri, Dhirauli, Dongri, Jhalari, Majhaulipath, Mohanban and Phatpaani.
The Adani Group is developing a Resettlement & Rehabilitation (R&R) colony in Khanua village, a few kilometres from the project site for the displaced families as per the conditions of the agreement it has with the mine owner.
Locals say that a huge number of project-displaced families are still awaiting compensation for the loss of their houses. Allegedly, households that had been put up in temporary accommodation prior to the commencement of mining three years ago continue to live in ramshackle dwellings because there is no deadline for completion of the resettlement process.
Sita Prasad Kewat (39), a ‘project-displaced person’, told this correspondent that his family of four has been living in 'temporary' accommodation provided by the developer (Adani) for the past three years.
‘Our ancestral house was in the very spot in which the company commenced its ground-breaking operation for the mining project,’ said Kewat. ‘Our family was asked to move on a temporary basis to sample dwelling units built by the developer in the colony’.
‘Later, we were allotted a plot in the colony where we wanted to build our own house. However, funding for the construction has only partially been provided. Our house is unfinished. We continue to live in the temporary dwelling where amenities are far from satisfactory. The money promised to us to cover the cost of shifting has not been paid.’
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The cost of the proposed expansion of the mine is Rs 386.20 crore (US $45.5 million). The existing mine was established at a cost of Rs 1873.75 crore (US $220 million).
In June 2024, local communities entered a face-off with the Adani Group, allegedly over forcible eviction of households from project-affected villages in the lease area to make way for mining work. The issue was resolved with the intervention of officials from the local district administration. The ministry was told by the project proponent, in its application to expand the mine, that basic infrastructure for the R&R Colony – such as roads, hospital, school and water-supply network – had been completed.
The project proponent has said that the proposed expansion will generate 1620 jobs in the first phase and 1800 in the second phase. However, locals argue that infrastructure work in the colony is only partly complete, and that jobs which were promised in lieu of loss of livelihoods have not fully materialised.
‘The school in the R&R colony began functioning in July 2024,’ said a source on condition of anonymity. ‘The hospital is yet to be fully constructed and is not operational. Roads, water supply and the electricity-supply network are yet to be fully developed.
‘Nearly 80% of project-displaced families are awaiting housing plots in the R&R colony. Only around 180 people have been given jobs as part of the R&R package.’
A field visit by this correspondent to the R&R colony site in April 2023 revealed that most infrastructure was at a very early stage of construction. Displaced families were yet to be resettled; the township bore a ghostly look. Project-displaced people took on construction of the houses themselves, but with only 5 lakhs (US $5900) provided per house by the developer (Adani), the quality of construction was poor.
The company has cited an office memorandum, issued by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (‘the ministry’) on 11 April 2022, to allow expansion of the project in two phases of 20% each without conducting public hearings. This memorandum provides an exemption from public hearings for developers of mine expansions of up to 50%. This exemption is allowed only if the expansion takes place within the existing mining lease and no further land acquisition is required. It has been criticised by advocacy groups for failing to take account of the environmental degradation which takes place when mines undergo significant expansions.
In 2021, the ministry permitted the project proponent to divert a crucial stream, the Hurdul Nallah, without conducting a hydrological study, citing Covid constraints. Surprisingly, the ministry has now asked the project proponent whether any study has been conducted for the stream’s diversion in response to the application filed for the expansion project.
In its meeting of 27 November 2024, the ministry’s Expert Appraisal Committee, which adjudicates on the potential environmental impacts of coal-mining projects, required the proponent to submit details of any hydrological study it had commissioned regarding the impacts of diverting the Hurdul Nallah. The committee also directed the proponent to submit the clearance letter from the state’s water resources department for diversion of the stream.
In a detailed report, AdaniWatch highlighted how the project was pushed through during the Covid lockdown in India following repeated interventions by the Modi government. The stream, an important source of water for the livestock of local communities, was to be diverted by constructing an artificial canal.
The owner wants to expand the Suliyari coal mine even though it hasn’t met all the conditions contained in the environmental approval for the current mine. The minutes committee’s meeting of 27 November 2024 state that a certified compliance report dated 4 July 2024 observed that, ‘out of 106 conditions, 54 conditions were observed to be complied, 5 conditions were not applicable to the proponent, 29 conditions were partly complied, 1 condition was noted, 1 condition [was] compiled subject to needful amendment in EC and 16 conditions were agreed to comply.’ Later, the project proponent submitted a letter to the ministry in October 2024, detailing compliance of the conditions.
