In January 2026, Lakhan Patel, a rural labourer from Raki village in Korba District of Chhattisgarh, was walking along the Hardi Bazaar–Raki road when a stone fragment from blasting inside the Dipka mine struck him on the head. He did not survive.Two months later, heavy blasting at the same mine caused plaster from the ceiling to fall into the Hardi Bazaar health centre, barely 30 metres away. In April, the embankment of a fly ash dam at the 1,320 MW HTPS (Hasdeo Thermal Power Station), Korba West plant, operated by the Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company Limited, breached. Huleshwar Kashyap, a 21-year-old JCB operator from Madwarani, was buried beneath hundreds of tonnes of ash and did not survive.Local newspapers noted that despite repeated incidents such as this, the mine management had shown no willingness to reduce blasting intensity as operations were under pressure to meet annual production targets in the final months of the financial year.Dainik Bhaskar, Korba edition, 26 March 2026.India is rapidly expanding renewable energy capacity, positioning itself as a frontrunner in the Global South in the push towards green energy. Coal, however, remains central to meeting India's energy security needs.Both these imperatives are entirely forward-looking. But neither has space for the present. And it is in this present that communities around Korba's mines and thermal power plants are left to bear the cost of India's energy choices.‘Our Land, Not a Garbage Dump’: Why This UP Village is Opposing a Waste PlantThe Political Economy of KorbaWithin Chhattisgarh, Korba is referred to as Urja Nagari (power capital), a name tied to the district’s dependence on coal. Some estimates suggest that more than 60 percent of Korba’s GDP comes from coal mining and related activities.Chhattisgarh’s coal output rose from 158 million tonnes in 2019–20 to a record 207.255 million tonnes in 2023–24, with Korba contributing the largest share. In FY 2023–24, the Gevra and Kusmunda mines together accounted for nearly 10 per cent of India’s total coal production. These mines, along with Dipka, have undergone successive capacity expansions in recent years.Korba also hosts thermal power plants with a combined installed capacity of more than 6,000 MW. Major operators include National Thermal Power Corporation Limited (NTPC), Adani Power Limited and the Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company Limited (CSPGCL). Two separate 1,320 MW thermal power expansions are at different stages of environmental approval.The Ministry of Coal presents these as achievements towards meeting rising national energy demand while reducing imports.Beyond its identity as the power capital, Korba is also a Scheduled Area under the Fifth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, with Adivasi communities making up more than 40 percent of the population, according to government records. It is also listed among NITI Aayog’s aspirational districts.Much of the discussion around a just transition has tended to focus on workers in the formal coal economy. In places like Korba, however, the burden falls on a much wider circle: informal workers, farming communities, Adivasi settlements, and those living in the shadow of mines and thermal power plants.Locally, this translates into sustained pressure on land, settlements and livelihoods.This explains why current just transition debates often feel distant here. Local conversations instead revolve around expanding mines, coal dust, broken roads and displacement.'Is There No Iron Left In the World That We’re Now Mining a Tiger Corridor?'Living with Intensified ExtractionOver the past decade, Korba’s major opencast mines, including Gevra, Dipka and Kusmunda, have expanded closer to surrounding villages and farmlands. Villages such as Raliya, Bhilai Bazaar and Naraibodh now sit along the advancing edges of the Gevra mine, while Hardi Bazaar faces similar pressures from the expanding Dipka mine.These settlements, inhabited largely by Adivasi and Dalit communities, have long depended on surrounding forest land for grazing, fuelwood and forest produce. Activists say forest access has steadily reduced as mining expansion has advanced across Raliya in phases.Korba’s major opencast mines Gevra and Dipka.Villages such as Raliya, Bhilai Bazaar and Naraibodh now sit along the advancing edges of the Gevra mine.Land acquisition for these expansions is carried out under the Coal Bearing Areas (Acquisition and Development) Act (1957), which does not require Gram Sabha consent. Once coal is deemed obtainable, land can be acquired through a notification process that offers only limited scope for objections.SECL’s (South Eastern Coalfields Limited) Gevra mine has seen successive capacity expansions, several of which were approved without fresh public hearings following exemptions granted by the Environment Ministry. However, for some of the more recent phases of expansion, public hearings were mandated. Yet, these did not prevent further expansions. For instance, for the 49 MTPA expansion, activists allege that the public hearing notification received limited publicity. At the most recent hearing for the proposed 70 MTPA expansion, residents raised objections, but clearance was still granted.Branded Illegal: How Over 8,500 Families Were Uprooted in Ahmedabad's DemolitionDipka mine near Hardi Bazaar.In Raliya, residents say forest rights claims remain unresolved even after forest diversion for mining expansion moved ahead. In Hardi Bazaar, where the mine is expanding, Naresh (name changed) shows the place where his house stood until a few months ago. He works as a truck driver for a private transport company at the Dipka mine. “The entire colony is gone” he says, referring to the neighbourhood that once stood there. His family, he says, had government-issued documents such as voter IDs and ration cards, but did not possess formal land documents despite having lived there since his grandfather’s time.Naresh (name changed)“They said it was government land. Our house was built with unbaked bricks. It had just two rooms. We received a little over one lakh, but no employment or anything else as part of the rehabilitation."Naresh also points to the nearby site of a government college that was demolished as part of the mine’s expansion. Its entrance board still stands.A government college in Hardi Bazaar, on land acquired for the expansion of the Dipka mine.Many villagers, residents say, remained unaware of acquisition and claims procedures, with some only learning of the acquisition after declarations under Section 9(1) – the formal notification of acquisition – had already been issued.One activist told The Quint that around 30 to 35 Individual Forest Rights (IFR) claims were cancelled in Raliya and that the claimants did not receive compensation. The activist also said, “Forest rights are not being settled. How come diversion of forest is happening? You have to have Forest Rights Act (FRA) settled first for the diversion of forest.”Another activist based in Raliya, who did not wish to be named, told The Quint, “The notifications come in one or two newspapers only, and the villagers are not that educated, so that level of publicity concerning these is not done the way it should be.”When asked whether the pradhan or village representatives are informed, the activist said they get some indication, but the information provided to them is not substantive enough.The Ministry of Coal later described Gevra’s 70 MTPA expansion as having received environmental clearance “in record time”. The mine has been projected to become Asia’s largest opencast coal mine.'Whose Land Is It Anyway?' Why Elephant Conflicts Are On The Rise In JharkhandRehabilitation after displacement is carried out under Coal India’s 2012 Resettlement and Rehabilitation policy.Much of SECL’s mining work is now carried out through private contractors. Deepak Sahu of Chhattisgarh Kisan Sabha says many displaced residents struggle to find work with these companies even after losing land to mine expansion.“Marginal farmers are worst affected by this R&R policy, which overrides state and central rehabilitation policies. They have lost the chance to claim employment because the policy limits jobs to one per two acres of acquired land,” says Sahu.Partially demolished houses in Raliya as mining expansion advances.Even in villages yet to face displacement, mining expansion has reshaped everyday life. Dust from coal transport and blasting has affected crop yields, say residents. Vegetable farming has declined, groundwater levels have fallen and heavy blasting has left cracks in houses. Deepak Sahu of the Chhattisgarh Kisan Sabha says safety buffer zones have not been adequately maintained, leaving nearby settlements increasingly exposed to blasting activity.At a roadside tea stall in Naraibodh, a resident of the village says, “We have water problems. Our borewells have completely dried up. There is no water coming into the borewells.” When asked about the government pipeline, he says, “Even those don’t have any water...the wells have all dried up.”Pointing towards a house across the road, where cracks are visible on the boundary wall and the house itself, he says, “Look at this, the blasting has caused it to crack all over. Every house has the same problem.”At the tea stall, another resident points towards the Gevra mine. “In the summer, dust blows in from there. When there are storms or strong winds, all of it comes this way,” he says. In front of the tea stall, the Gevra-Basti road ahead was closed, but schoolchildren in uniform could be seen cycling past the obstruction even as vehicles took the diversion to the left. Residents say that a school further along will also eventually be affected by the mine’s expansion. One of them says the entire village could be displaced within the next two or three years. “They’re demolishing the houses one by one… this entire area will be gone.”(SECL was contacted for its response to queries regarding concerns over blasting and its impacts on nearby communities, environmental impacts of mining operations, land acquisition and rehabilitation, and employment for displaced families. The company had not responded at the time of publication.)Bastar Files: Basavaraju May be Gone, But the Naxal Movement Still LivesAsh on EverythingThe coal economy's footprint extends beyond mining. Thermal power generation in Korba produces vast quantities of fly ash. The MoEFCC’s 2021 ash utilisation notification mandates 100 percent utilisation of fly ash through approved, eco-friendly methods. Activists argue that, in practice, the framework allows companies to present fly ash dumping as “utilisation”, particularly when ash is used to fill low-lying areas without proper safeguards.In Korba, local newspapers frequently report illegal fly ash dumping. Flat lands, roadside stretches and areas around bridges are used as dumping sites under the pretext of land levelling. "This is illegal disposal in the name of utilisation," says a local activist who did not wish to be named. "The difference between disposal and utilisation is getting blurred in front of authorities, and that is why the situation is getting severe day by day." Many of these sites remain exposed, while thin layers of soil used to cover the ash often erode over time. During dry weather, loose ash rises into dense clouds that reduce visibility on roads. Heavy rainfall washes ash into homes, agricultural fields, and water bodies.Fly ash unloading underway in Khairbavna villagFly ash dumping near a water body in Khairbhavna village. The lighter coloured ash is visibly distinct from the surrounding soil.In Patharipara Basti, residents living near the fly ash storage silos of the Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee (DSPM) Thermal Power Station, operated by the Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company Limited (CSPGCL), describe ash drifting into their homes, which they associate with the nearby silos. One resident says ash overflows from the silos, while residents living closer to them say the silos are sometimes opened at night.‘Ground Is Sinking, Houses Are Cracking’: People of Jharia Fear for Their Lives“When it flies, it makes the whole house dirty. It gets into the food and water, whether we are cooking dal and rice or making rotis,” says a woman in her mid 50s who lives near the silos and runs a small convenience store attached to her home. “Even breathing becomes difficult,” she adds. She says she has tried to contact the local councillor when it gets particularly bad. This brings temporary relief, she says, but the problem recurs. Similar complaints of ash entering homes and affecting daily life have been reported from areas around CSPGCL’s (Chhattisgarh State Power Generation Company) Churikhala fly ash dam as well.In Khairbhawna, villagers say dumping of fly ash near farmlands began only recently. A Dalit resident of the village says his children struggle to breathe during summers when ash rises. When the ash becomes unbearable, he says, he goes to truck drivers unloading ash nearby, asking them to pour water to keep it down.On the other side of the village, farmers say cattle get trapped in ash-filled pits. The April breach of the ash dam at HTPS Darri, which killed Huleshwar Kashyap, followed earlier breaches reported at the same ash dam. Local media reports noted that only a few labourers were present at the site that day, suggesting that the toll could have been far higher. As thermal power generation expands in Korba, residents say fly ash contamination and disposal-related risks are only becoming harder to contain.(CSPGCL did not respond to a detailed set of queries sent by The Quint regarding residents’ concerns about fly ash entering homes near the DSPM silos in Patharipara Basti, the April 2026 ash dam breach at HTPS, and the storage, transportation, and disposal of fly ash from its thermal power plants.)'Killed Our Fish, Way of Life': A Titanium Factory Is Destroying Kerala's CoastHidden Pollution Beyond Official ReadingsKorba’s Air Quality Index often registers as “satisfactory”. On the ground, however, residents tell a different story. Activists say official readings are based on a limited number of monitoring stations, many of them located away from active mining and coal-handling zones. A dust survey conducted in Dipka in March 2025 recorded PM 2.5 levels of 370 µg/m³ and PM10 concentrations exceeding 400 µg/m³, far above national safety limits. A 2021 study also found air quality samples from 13 of 14 locations in Korba to be in the ‘hazardous’ category.Residents have repeatedly protested against air pollution and fly ash exposure. The Chhattisgarh High Court has also pulled up NTPC, BALCO and SECL over the uncovered transportation of coal and fly ash, observing that it contributed to air pollution and accidents. Despite this, instances of uncovered transportation of fly ash in violation of norms continue to be reported from Korba, as recently as June 2026. The Quint sent a detailed list of queries to NTPC and BALCO regarding measures taken to ensure the transportation of coal and fly ash associated with their operations complies with applicable environmental and safety norms, following concerns raised in the High Court proceedings. Neither responded to the queries.The Chhattisgarh Environment Conservation Board (CECB) was also contacted for its response to queries regarding the adequacy of air-quality monitoring in Korba, enforcement of fly ash transportation and disposal norms, utilisation of fly ash for land levelling, and pollution of the Lilagarh river. The Board had not responded at the time of publication.How Odisha's Resettlement Plan for Satabhaya's Climate Refugees Went Off ScriptThe Present of CoalThe Lilagarh river near coal washeries.Just transition discussions often focus on what happens when coal declines. In Korba, however, the present looks like this: villages await displacement, fly ash settles on food inside homes, and bore pumps have run dry. School buses and local vehicles compete for space with an unending stream of coal-laden trucks. Potholes have swallowed entire stretches of road. Traders in the area have previously staged protests by bathing in the potholes.A coal transport road near Dipka mine.Women collect coal that has fallen from wagons at Korba Phatak railway crossing.Without acknowledging these realities, what transition will mean for the informal labourer, the Adivasi farmer whose forest rights remain unresolved, and the women collecting coal from the tracks at Korba Phatak remains far less clear.(Hari Raghunath is a Research Associate at the Centre for Workers Management with over 3 years of experience in the complex urban governance system of Delhi. His research is situated in the intersection of city and labour. The article was supported by the Smithu Kothari Fellowship.)What’s at Stake in the Aravallis? Mining Threats, Wildlife, and Tribal Heritage