In December last year, the Assam government issued a tender for the auction of seven limestone mines in Dima Hasao district, which operates under the sixth schedule of the Constitution, and is governed by an autonomous council that represents its tribal communities.

But controversy has loomed large over the project for various reasons. 

One, the mine summaries – or the description of the mine – mentioned the over 9,000 bighas of land as “government land” without a survey to even establish whether it was forest land and required environmental clearances. Second, tribals are worried that as many as seven villages will be displaced due to the project. Further complicating the issue, a mining firm has approached the Supreme Court seeking a Rs 56 crore refund for environmental charges it had paid for another limestone mine in the same area.

While locals in the proposed mining area claim they only came to know about the auction after forest officials visited their villages for a survey, opposition leaders in Assam claim the tendering process has favoured corporations.  

Land classification under cloud

Spanning over 9,000 bighas of land, the mines were opened for e-tendering in February, inviting bids from interested parties. Dima Hasao is rich in mineral deposits, particularly limestone, which is essential for cement production. 

The district already hosts a few cement manufacturing plants, including a limestone mine leased to Dalmia Cements. Dalmia approached the central empowered committee (CEC), constituted by the Supreme Court, soon after the tender for the new mines was floated, questioning the charges it was made to pay when another tender in the same area mentioned the land as ‘non forest’ in the mining summary. 

The seven limestone mines in the new tender included North Boro Hundong Limestone Block (Part - A), North Boro Hundong Limestone Block (Part - B), South Boro Hundong Limestone Block (Part - A), South Boro Hundong Limestone Block (Part - B), South Boro Hundong Limestone Block (Part - C), New Umrangshu Limestone Block and Boro Hundong Limestone Block. 

The mine summary for all seven mines mentions that there is no forest land in the area of mining. 

In its petition, Dalmia Cements referred to coordinates plotted on the PARIVESH portal maintained by the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, to support its claim before the CEC. “Land parcels where the subject mine of the applicant is located, could also have never been classified as forest land, similar to the other colocated mining areas,” it stated, alleging that the company was “wrongly asked to obtain a forest clearance and consequently wrongly made to pay large sums of monies towards Net Present Value (NPV), Tree Operation Cost (TOC), Compensatory Afforestation Cost (CAC), and other charges, amounting to Rs 56.85 crore”. 

The CEC called a meeting of officials of the state’s forest department, revenue department and North Cachar Hills Autonomous Council along with a representative of the Meghalaya government. It visited the site on September 9 and held discussions in Guwahati on September 10. In a communication sent to the special chief secretary of Assam government, MK Yadav, the next day, the panel sought additional information related to forest  cover in the state, details of all the operating mining leases in Dima Hasao, and rules regarding land matters in the NC Autonomous council, among others. 

It also directed the Assam government to conduct a land survey in the area as the government had told the CEC that areas identified for mining had not been surveyed yet. 

“Please submit the findings to the CEC, clearly indicating how much of the estimated area falls under the classification of deemed forest. Additionally, in your report, please include the age class of the trees taken into account,” it said. 

‘Kept in dark’ 

The government is yet to announce the names of the technically qualified bidders. While the tender document initially said the names would be declared on February 6, this was extended to March 22 until a subsequent corrigendum on revised dates, and the government is yet to announce any new date.

Meanwhile, a local activist claimed  they learnt about the proposed mining plan only when forest officials visited their villages. 

“Around June, a huge number of forest personnel visited our village and entered into the jungle. We were all shocked,” Linson Ronghang, resident of Bhorolkingdong, one of the affected villages, and president of the Mining Area Affected People Association, told Newslaundry. 

A few weeks later, special chief secretary of Assam government, MK Yadav, along with CEC officials arrived in Rhongang’s village. “Villagers had never seen such a long queue of cars with so many VIPs and police. It was during our interaction with them we properly learnt that there will be mining in our area,” said Ronghang.

He alleged that despite local resistance, the administration has made multiple attempts to survey the land that they claim belongs to them. “The administration had done wrong in Dalmia’s case, now they want to correct their wrongdoings by classifying our villages as forest,” he alleged.

Rahul Teron, a local Congress leader, claimed the land is not forested but belongs to villagers as they have cultivation in the areas. “We tribal people do ‘jhoom kheti’ because of which one patch of land may look like a jungle but it was just kept like that for cultivation in future. They don't understand our lifestyle. Forest is God for us.”

An executive member of the autonomous council blamed the council’s chief for “not consulting” the people before approving the mining plan. “One has to consult with people. The issue was not even discussed with council members,” he alleged. 

Congress’ Leader of Opposition Debabrata Saikia questioned the whole tendering process, pointing to an alleged violation of various norms, including the forest rights act and sixth schedule area. 

“First, despite being a sixth schedule area, no consent from people was taken before going ahead with any mining project. There is also one latest Supreme Court judgment which states the government should treat ‘forest’ in dictionary meaning. So, even if an area is not included as forest as per any circular, it should be treated as forest if it has plantation, trees etc,” Saikia said.

“Further, as per section 2 of the forest conservation act, one has to take prior permission from the environment ministry before going for any non forest activity. But this was also not done. Which is a gross violation,” he added. He also said that the locals are entitled to rights under the forest dwellers act. 

Prakriti Srivastava, a retired IFS officer and PCCF with expertise in forest laws, said the tendering process is incorrect. “It's wrong to go for an auction without getting forest clearance. First they go for auction and then the successful bidder applies for forest clearance. This is not a correct methodology and leads to a fait accompli situation” she told Newslaundry. 

She also said the State Expert Committee, constituted under the Godavarman order of SC in 1996, has not completed its identification of forest land in Assam. The Lafarge order of the Supreme Court of 2011 has also not been implemented which required GIS mapping of all forest areas as per the Godavarman order of 1996, she added. 

“Therefore it is not possible for any agency to state it is not a forest land as all such land coming under the definition of forest as per the Godavaraman order should have been identified, demarcated, surveyed and protected. This has not been done. It is almost certain that this land would have been identified as a forest as per the Godavarman order.”

Newslaundry reached out to Assam chief secretary Ravi Kota for comment. This report will be updated if a response is received.

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