DB Power

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DB Power is a subsidiary of DB Corp Ltd, a media conglomerate in India.

Proposed coal mine and plant

DB Power is seeking the acquisition of 693.32 hectares of land for a coal mine, a project in Dharamjaigarh that would displace an estimated 524 families from six settlements to extract 2 million tonnes of coal annually. The coal would be used to fuel the Baradarha power station that would be built in the adjoining district of Janjgir. According to a company sponsored environment impact assessment, 2709 people would be displaced and 51000 people affected by the coal mine.

Public opposition

At a February 28, 2011 public hearing on the mine, 438 people spoke, none of them in support of the project. After public protest against the proposed mine, DB Power submitted an affidavit pledging not to conduct any mining operations in nagar panchayat land. A supplementary letter filed at the Feb. 2011 public hearing promised to re-site any proposed water tanks and coal piles from nagar panchayat land to the remaining leased area. Four villages, however, would still lose their lands.

According to activist Ramesh Agarwal: “If the company is really giving up 350 acres of land, it should submit a new EIA report,” saying that the existing report was meaningless as giving up 350 acres of urban land would alter the mining plan of the project. The Centre for Science and Environment, a Delhi-based research group, criticised the report for not providing information on the mine’s impact on surface and groundwater sources, forests and fauna: “Almost 40 per cent of land in the project area is covered under forests …There are 11 reserved and 2 protected forests within 10 km radius."

DB Corp paper runs stories in support of mine

D B Power is promoted by Bhaskar group that publishes Dainik Bhaskar, the largest selling Hindi newspaper in Chhattisgarh. In the days preceding a hearing on the coal mine, the Raigarh edition of the Dainik Bhaskar carried a full page of stories in favour of the project.

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