Every day, Ram Lal Kariyam checks the river stream that flows through Salhi, his village in the Hasdeo Arand forest of Chhattisgarh. He is on the lookout for any brown slurry from the coal-washing facility of the sprawling mine nearby.
“Earlier they would discharge dirty water four times a week,” said the 28-year-old farmer, a member of India’s Gond tribe. “Now it’s rare.” Driving this improvement are forest dwellers like him, who consistently monitor the coal mine for environmental violations.
The central state of Chhattisgarh produced the highest quantity of coal in India in the last financial year. Most of its mines are open-cast—the ground on top has to be destroyed as the coal beneath is too shallow for underground mining. It leads to greater air pollution due to the blasting of land as well as loading and unloading of overburdened soil.
The mine adjoining Kariyam’s village, named “Parsa East and Kanta Basan,” is also open-cast. As the ground is dug up for the expanding project, forested areas are being threatened—along with the homes they provided to tribal villagers.
India’s pollution control laws as well as approvals for coal mines mandate environmental preservation measures. But enforcement depends on self-monitoring by the miners and by state-level pollution control officers—both of which are required to file six-monthly compliance reports.
For the rest of this article: https://qz.com/india/1729008/tribal-villagers-are-monitoring-adanis-pekb-mine-in-chhattisgarh/