Living with Coal : Documenting it's human price in Jharkhand

A major coal mining project of Eastern Coalfields Limited (Rajmahal open cast project, a part of Rajmahal coalfield) is going on in Boarijore, Mahagama and Sunderpahari CD Blocks of Godda district in Jharkhand. As of 2020, major activity is going on near Mahagama town and Lalmatia village.

Raj Mahal Open Cast project in Lalmatia, Jharkhand is known as the biggest open cast mining area in Asia.

For a major part of the population of Boarijore and surrounding blocks and their villages, coal mines are a source of livelihood as well. However, as most of the villagers who have been employed at the govt approved coal mine project are those who have been given jobs after their lands were taken over. Many surrounding villages have been taken under the project and as a result their villagers were displaced and entire villagers rehabilitated somewhere else. Mostly in return the families members were given another piece of land and a brick house as well as one member is employed at the colliery with a fixed income.

In my years of work and living near the Lalmatia Colliery I saw how others who did not directly benefit from the coal mine project chose many other alternative ways to make income from coal. The state may consider them illegal, but many coal carriers or their families would tell me that 'we are just taking what we were owed as this was our land before'. These coal carriers have a chain and network of contacts who they have to bribe at various junctions before they can get their hands on some coal. The routes are mostly hidden and only known to these carriers, who start very early in the morning.

However, when these coal carriers or 'kohliwallas' carry about 100 to 250 kilograms of coal on their bicycles, the maximum weight of which is on their back to pull it all the way for almost 40 to 50 kms in order to sell it. They would complain of many health issues during their lifetime. Most common cause of death among people who choose this as their form of livelihood was reported to be tuberculosis due to the heavy coal dust that they inhale at such close proximity.

Lalmatia Coillery

The human price of this economic activity however many a times remain invisible. The collateral damage that is suffered by the villagers is not counted and they are compensated with new land and money to gain control on their lands. However many intangible things can't be replenished. The fertility of the land that was owned cant be replaced, the importance of ancestral land to the tribal also cannot be compensated.

While I was working in Godda and the Santhal Pargana region, I witnessed many women collectives who would come together to fight for their lands. Certain stories of success were inspiration for the others however not always they would win. The tribal community and their voices have long been marginalized in front of the state or private power.

The 'koilawallahs' or coal carriers of Godda

Economic growth of the country has always been put first in comparison to the human price or social degradation that it caused. However, in India economic growth as well as its social aspects need to go hand in hand when it comes to making policies. Because the ones who are suffering do not have any direct impact on our lives, we choose to not speak or fight for their rights.

The koilawallahs, or coal carriers of Godda district try earning a living by picking up coal from the waste dumps near the Rajmahal mining project at Lalmatiya and pushing huge loads of it – ranging from 100 to 250 kilograms – to Godda town 40 kilometres away.

But, what is important for all us to realize at one point is that everything that is happening affects all of us. The degradation of the land, its fertility, the social price, forest degradation and its environmental impact. Everything. I believe in the power collective action and influencing policy through a collective voice If we use the power of collective bargaining, I feel we too can have an equal negotiation voice when it comes to building policies that do not have a human cost.

https://ruralindiaonline.org/albums/the-koilawallahs-of-godda