Gaon chodab nahin,
jungle chodab nahin,
maain maati chodab nahin,
ladai chodab nahin.
(We will not leave our villages, we will not leave our forests, we will not leave our mother earth, we will not give up our fight.)
Megnath , Akhra
In Jharkhand’s hazaribagh district, there have been many protests over the last several years against the state-corporate mining nexus where residents are being displaced without consent or compensation. The Gondalpura coal block, which holds roughly 176 million tonnes of coal was auctioned to Adani in 2020. Villagers who are mostly farmers have been protesting the 513 hectares of their land being auctioned off to the Adani Group, despite the a village council resolution that was passed unanimously against this. Protests have been ongoing in Barkagaon.
In January 2026, the environmental clearance hearing was cancelled after local protests without any further dates confirmed.
Recently, a bridge was constructed between two villages and immediately decorated with abuse directed towards Adani and the mining companies.
In November 2025, over 10,000 people from across five villages held a mahapanchayat to protest the Gondalpura project in Barkagaon Block’s Harli village, with slogans and songs defending their water, land and forest.
People have also made reels about the ongoing movement to save barkagaon and question why villages are now only seen as coal blocks.
In a video report to a local news channel, residents reported that there has been constant drone surveillance around the village areas. One person powerfully encapsulated how mining operations are destroying livelihoods and the natural environment, “Khadan humko khaata hai, aur kheti humko khelata hai” “Mining is eating us, Farming is feeding us”.
According to a an article by Justice in Mining Network, as of august 2025 there were atleast “27 different false charges of disrupting law and order filed against 161 villagers of Gondalpura. A total of 118 women has also cases against them. The villagers say that the officials simply file a FIR against them for speaking for their rights.”
“The Gondalpara coal block poses a severe threat to local livelihoods, with the project expected to generate 229 million tonnes of solid waste. The region’s fertile farmland produces crops like rice, sugarcane, wheat, and mustard, while community land is used for grazing and firewood collection” – From Polis project
“The dust from the Pakri Barwadih mine is carried by air and water to the remaining fields in their village, reducing land fertility and affecting crop yields. The land here used to be very fertile; we grew wheat and chickpeas. Chickpeas used to thrive with just light sprinkling, but that’s no longer the case now.”” – Rahul Singh Indiaspend
Mithilesh Dangi, convener of the Azadi Bachao Andolan and a resident of the Barkagaon region, says, “In the Karanpura Valley, 83 coal blocks have been identified, and once all the coal blocks start, not a single village will remain in the entire Barkagaon block; everyone will have to be displaced.” – IndiaSpent
Similar operations in the wider region have shown that once coal-mining begins, it eventually engulfs the whole economy and destroys the village way of life. After the Pakri-Barwadih mines openened in North Karanpura, once again without the residents consent, “the natural landscape disappeared, illegal dumping of mine waste occurred on farmland, rivers dried up, rainfall became inconsistent, and then whole villages disappeared from the map.”
Interview in Hindi with Vikas, President of Karanpura Bachao Sangarsh Comittee, Gondalpura. Published 09/06/2026
Vikas speaks about the ongoing protests against Adani and other mining companies, the repeated attempts tot negotiate with the authorities, which were ignored, their demands for autonomy over the coal in the land and the violence by the police onto the protestors. He highlights the strong backing that capitalists like Adani have whilst the people of the land are being ignored. Vikas concludes with calls to continue protests and even take it to the capital city Delhi.
