The auction has revived a larger battle over tribal rights in Hasdeo-Aranya, a Fifth Schedule area where communities have invoked Gram Sabha powers under PESA and the Forest Rights Act. An Adani-linked company has won the Tara (Revised) block with a 37.5% revenue-share offer.
BY PC Bureau
New Delhi, Sept 10: An Adani-linked company has won the Tara coal block in Chhattisgarh’s Hasdeo-Aranya, triggering a fresh political and tribal land-rights controversy, with the Congress accusing the Centre of overriding years of Adivasi opposition and the Chhattisgarh government’s earlier objections to mining in the area.
The coal block was won by CG Syn-Gas and Chemicals Ltd with a 37.5 per cent revenue-share offer in the latest commercial coal auction. The company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mundra Synenergy Ltd, which is in turn wholly owned by Adani Enterprises Ltd. The Ministry of Coal officially listed CG Syn-Gas and Chemicals as the successful bidder for Tara (Revised).
Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said the auction amounted to handing over a large stretch of forest and tribal land in Hasdeo-Aranya to an Adani-linked company despite sustained opposition from Adivasi and forest-dependent communities.
He said tribal communities had resisted mining in Hasdeo-Aranya for around 15 years through Gram Sabha resolutions, protests, sit-ins and marches, arguing that coal mining would threaten forests, land, livelihoods and traditional community rights.
Tribal land rights at centre of controversy
The Congress said the issue goes beyond a coal auction because Hasdeo-Aranya includes areas covered by the Fifth Schedule, which provides special constitutional protections for tribal communities.
Tribal groups and activists have also invoked the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA) and the Forest Rights Act (FRA) in opposing mining projects, arguing that Gram Sabhas must have a meaningful role in decisions affecting community resources and traditional forest rights.
Ramesh said the Tara auction had disregarded three earlier official positions.
On July 26, 2022, the Chhattisgarh Assembly unanimously resolved that no coal block in Hasdeo-Aranya should be allotted or auctioned.
On July 16, 2023, the state government told the Supreme Court in an affidavit that there was no need to allocate or develop any new mine in the region.
And on October 19, 2023, the Union Coal Ministry denotified 40 coal blocks, including Tara, from the auction process.
The Congress also released a June 13, 2023 letter from the Chhattisgarh Mineral Resources Department to the Union Coal Secretary seeking exclusion of nine blocks from auction, with Tara listed first.
The letter cited the 2022 Assembly resolution and objections from the state Forest Department and said mining in the nine blocks would affect 24 villages.
छत्तीसगढ़ में स्थित इकोलॉजी की दृष्टि से संवेदनशील हसदेव-अरण्य इकोसिस्टम के तारा कोल ब्लॉक को हाल ही में मोदानी कारोबारी समूह को दिए जाने पर INC का यह बयान है।
इसके साथ जून 2023 में छत्तीसगढ़ राज्य सरकार द्वारा केंद्रीय कोयला मंत्रालय को लिखा गया एक पत्र भी है, जिसमें तारा सहित… pic.twitter.com/I1A1t9y3z6— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) September 10, 2026
Forest, elephants and 10 lakh trees
Ramesh said the Tara block covers roughly 5,000 acres, including more than 4,000 acres of dense forest. He claimed mining would involve the felling of more than 10 lakh trees and argued that compensatory afforestation could not compensate for the loss of an established forest ecosystem.
He also warned of potential consequences for the Lemru Elephant Reserve and elephant corridors, which he said could be affected by further mining and fragmentation of the forest landscape.
Ramesh dismissed the renaming of the block as Tara (Revised) as immaterial to the underlying environmental and tribal concerns.
The Congress argued that the central question was whether commercial coal extraction should proceed in an area where local communities have repeatedly opposed mining and asserted rights over land and forests.
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Centre points to auction, revenue and jobs
The Ministry of Coal has presented the auction as part of its broader commercial coal-mining programme.
According to the ministry, Tara (Revised) has a peak rated capacity of 6 million tonnes a year and geological reserves of about 293.91 million tonnes. The six blocks auctioned in the latest round are projected collectively to generate about ₹1,983.67 crore in annual revenue, attract nearly ₹1,743 crore in capital investment and create 15,710 jobs.
The Centre has also previously said Tara was considered for auction after environmental assessments and consultations with the Environment Ministry, with safeguards required before mining on forest land can begin.
But the latest auction has reopened the political battle over tribal land, Gram Sabha rights and forest protection in Hasdeo-Aranya.
For the Congress, the controversy is now not simply about who won a coal block. It is about whether an Adani-linked company can begin the process of mining in a tribal forest landscape despite sustained Adivasi opposition and earlier objections from the state government.
The auction therefore places the Tara block at the centre of a familiar and politically charged question in Hasdeo: can coal extraction override the claims of tribal communities to their land, forests and traditional livelihoods?
