Boro Buski and Chhoto Buski. Two Santal villages side by side in Birampur Thana of Dinajpur, a northern district of Bangladesh. An artificial forest of acacia and minjuri trees lies in the east of the villages. There was a time when native sal (Shorea robusta) forest was abundant. The patch of the planted forest on the highland looks like an island from a distance. There are vast rice fields in the north and the east of the villages. The highland is luxuriant with dry-season crops such as mustard, wheat, and green vegetables. Santal men and women are busy planting paddy saplings in their lowland. A line of eucalyptus on the horizon is typical of the landscapes in the recent times. A golden shower of sunshine in the evening flushes the landscapes. Inside the Santal villages the view becomes more beautiful. The huge traditional mud-houses with few windows, typical of the Santals, line up along a village path. The tidy and serene villages speak of their antiquity.
These two Santal villages will have no trace if open pit mining takes places for extraction of coal. The villages will vanish in the deep hollow of the open pit mining. The villagers have already learnt their possible fate. Search for coal has been going on for several years in this area. Experts from country and abroad have frequented the area with their drilling equipment. They pulled out coal from deep in the earth in 150 drilling sites. The villagers have watched the drilling activities with curiosity. They were told of coal deposit in the area and prospect of mining. They thought the mining would bring good both to them and to the country. Afterwards they came to know that the mining would follow a method that requires removal of entire overburden from the top of the coal. It means all villages [more than 100 according to the company] in some 59 sq. km will have to be evicted and the inhabitants relocated. Everything on the ground will vanish. This is a horror story for the Santals and others in the mine area. They are furious. The Santal represents the second largest indigenous community of Bangladesh.
We meet a middle-aged Santal man as we enter Boro Buski. Already informed of their anger about the open pit mining, we decide not to provoke them in anyway. So we first talk about the plantation on eastside of the village where trees were planted under “social forestry” program with financial support of the Asian Development Bank (ADB). We request him to come with us to the plantation site. He accompanies us to the plot he is a participant to. He tells us that the trees of this plot are fifteen years old and would be cut soon.
Low terraced rice fields, typical of the Barind Tract, start from the northwestern edge of the plantation. We walk along the aisle of the fields. Several Santal men and women are busy in their field. They work silently, giving absolutely no attention to our existence.
We try to talk to a group of some six Santal men and women working on their rice field. But they are tight-lipped. We make fun to break the ice. It works. Gradually the rigid refusal seems to somewhat melt. Two of them talk to us with clear body language of disbelief. An old lady bluntly says they do not trust anyone from Capital Dhaka. People from Dhaka deceived them. They surveyed their land and villages without giving any hint of the open pit mining that requires eviction. Now comes the frightful story that they will have to vacate the area if the open-cut mining takes place.
Who are these people from Dhaka and those of the company? They are actually the employees and consultants of Asia Energy that is in contract with Bangladesh government for exploration and development of mine. They represent environmental organizations and universities. Many are expatriates and many are local. Santals took us for the company people. So we are unwanted and the Santals want us to go away from their land.
We keep trying to hear more from the Santals working on their land. Rina Tudu (45) from Boro Buski finally talks. She has 20 Bighas (approximately 6.5 acres) of cultivable land. She has another five Bighas of homestead and home gardens. “I would rather die on my own land than to leave it and go elsewhere,” declares Rina as she stands on her rice field. We understand what pinches her.
We then enter the village. What a beautiful village it is! But the faces of its Santal inhabitants are so grim. We meet two elderly men sitting on the village path. Paulus Tudu, one of them, is near sixty. His silent face talks about his frustration, pain and foreboding. His eyes tell we bring no good news. We ask if we could see his house. He takes us inside. As he walks in, he sighs, “We will not move from here.”
We pass some more time in the village. All the faces we see are so sad. Chhoto Buski is adjacent to Boro Buski village. We walk into the village. A Santal woman is cooking in the open yard of her house. Although she does not receive us with the traditional Santal hospitality, she gives us stools to sit on. We try to know her feeling about the coal mine. Like others she remains tight-lipped. She even denies telling us her name. She does not trust us because we are from Dhaka. “People from Dhaka came and took our photographs. Now we hear that we have to vacate our land for the mining,” is the only response we get from her.
About a hundred Santal families live in Boro Buski and Choto Buski villages. One of the families had to leave Choto Buski for expressing support for Asia Energy among few other reasons. The Santals complain that for deceptive way of recording, genuine stocktaking of their properties—houses, land, cattle, etc.—did not take place.
The sun sets and we leave for Phulbari town. As we cut through the beautiful landscapes, we paint an imagery of the future in our mind—we see a thousand-foot deep hollow, open pit. So much devastation will take place here! The mother earth will be so much upset! So many people will cry!
The mine area covers more than a hundred villages of seven Unions in four Upazilas—Phulbari, Birampur, Nawabganj and Parbatipur—and part of Phulbari Sadar Upazila, all under Dinajpur district. Thousands of acres of cropland fall in the area. Asia Energy, a UK-based company is in contract with Bangladesh government for this great show of mining in Phulbari called Phulbari Coal Project. An Australian company, BPH, had started the coal exploration in this area. Bangladesh government signed contract with BPH through an open tender. Later in 1998 the contract was transferred to Asia Energy. Asia Energy, after estimation of coal reserve, has submitted to the government a plan of operation. Bangladesh government has already granted environment clearance to the company.
According to Asia Energy, 5,900 hectares or 59 sq. km. land is required for the mine. The area of Phulbari Thana Sadar that falls into the project area has brick-built houses, schools, colleges, tarmacked roads, railroads, business facilities and so forth. Outside the township lie vast crop fields, forest patches and plantations. Beneath the expanse of beautiful landscapes lies the 38 meter thick (on an average) coal of 270 million years. Now profit-hunting foreign company has its eyes on the mineral. Human life, environment and all other concerns are downplayed.
According to Asia Energy the coal reserve in this mine is 572 million tons. The company believes, if explored, more coal will be traced in the south of the present mine. |
