OUR CORRESPONDENT
KOKRAJHAR: A huge protest was taken out by the villagers of Paglijhora Part-I and II area in Porbotjhora subdivision of Kokrajhar district against the allotment of 3,600 bighas of land in the area to Adani Group to set up Thermal Power Project. There was also a scuffle between the agitated villagers and the police in the scorching heat on Wednesday.
The villagers of the proposed project site came out and joined the protest as a police team had gone there to ensure demarcation of the land boundary. The irate villagers shouted slogans against the Government of Assam and BTR and chanted ‘Adani-go back.’ They said that they will not leave their villages and urged the government to take the project to other areas of the state.
Interacting with media persons, local villagers comprising Boro, Rabha, and Garo tribes said that they had been living peacefully over the decades but the sudden allotment of 3,600 bighas of land of the locality to Adani Group by the government has put them on an uncertain path. They said that the land in the 6th schedule BTC area was under the control of the BTC administration and not under the state government. They alleged that the BTC was compromising due to the state government’s request for the project. They argued that the allotment of tribal land to non-tribal outsider is a violation of land act and rule of the 6th schedule administration. The villagers expressed anguish on the Government of BTR over its flexible stand and urged CEM Pramod Boro to review the allotment. The villagers also feared that the promises of the Government of BTR quoting Adani Group’s offer of 8,000 jobs to local people was nothing but a lie. They further said that Adani Group had engaged roughly over 3,600 employees in existing eight thermal power projects across India and they provide a clear indication that they are going to deceive the local villagers.
Meanwhile, the Working President of the Bodoland Janajati Suraksha Mancha (BJSM), DD Narzary, said that according to the sources available, as of now, the Adani Power operated eight thermal power plants in India. These were Mundra, Gujarat (4,620 MW), Tiroda, Maharashtra (3,300 MW), Kawai, Rajasthan (1,320 MW, planned expansion to 4,520 MW), Udupi, Karnataka (1,200 MW), Raikheda (Raipur), Chhattisgarh (1,370 MW), Raigarh, Chhattisgarh (600 MW), Singrauli, Madhya Pradesh (1,200 MW) and Godda, Jharkhand (1,600 MW, exports power to Bangladesh).
He said that the combined installed capacity of the eight power plants of Adani stands over 15,000 MW. He also said that as of March 31, 2024, Adani Power Limited employed approximately 3,315 people across its operations in India and that the reports from existing Adani Thermal Power sites indicate significant environmental degradation, including air and water pollution and other serious, long term health and ecological consequences.
Narzary opined that under these circumstances, the proposed Thermal Power project in the Bashbari area of Kokrajhar district under Porbotjhora subdivision will pose a direct threat to the land, livelihood, and cultural survival of the Boro and other tribal people of the Bashbari area. He further said that in the 6th schedule BTC administration, no one has the right to allot lands to non-tribal outsiders. He called upon all to stand together against projects detrimental to tribal people and asked the government to cancel the proposed project.
Meanwhile, local MCLA of BTC Moon Moon Brahma submitted a memorandum to the Principal Secretary of BTC on Wednesday urging him to cancel the land allotment to Adani company. The memorandum was endorsed by the Bashbari Land Protection Committee, Kokrajhar District Gaonbura Association, BONSU, AATSU, and BJSM.
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