At the Deocha Pachami coal mine in West Bengal, women are at the forefront of the protest to save their land and livelihoods. An artist tells us the story of their determined fight through a series of illustrations https://ruralindiaonline.org/en/articles/where-will-we-go-leaving-everything-behind/
The land that belongs to Apankuri, Labsa and others lies above ground of the massive Deocha-Pachami-Dewanganj-Harinsingha coal block. Under the West Bengal Power Development Corporation, this soon to be live, open-cast coal mine will be the largest in Asia and the second largest in the world – covering 12.31 square kilometre or 3,400 acres , according to the district administration.
The mining project will swallow up land in Hatgachha, Makdumnagar, Bahadurganja, Harinsinga, Chanda, Saluka, Dewanganj, Alinagar, Kabilnagar and Nischintapur mouza in Birbhum district's Mohammad Bazar block.
The women are part of Deocha Pachami's anti-mining people's movement here. The project will render thousands of residents like them, homeless and landless, not “bathe West Bengal in the ‘light’ of development for the next 100 years,” as officials are claiming.
Darkness looms large beneath the ‘light’. Perhaps as congealed as coal itself. This project will have a devastating impact on the environment.
by LabaniJangi
06/07/202023