Watch: Why workers at an Adani power plant in Jharkhand went on a strike
Many villagers who gave up land for the Adani project allege the company failed to fulfil its promises to them.
An Adani-owned thermal power plant in Godda, Jharkhand, supplies electricity to Bangladesh – the only private sector project in India which has been allowed to export power to another country.
Last year, a change of regime in Dhaka brought the project under the spotlight – taking objection to the price at which Adani sold electricity, the Bangladesh government threatened to renegotiate the power purchase agreement with the company.
While Dhaka's objections have made news, what has gone largely unreported is the disquiet in Godda district. In April, workers at the plant went on a strike over what they said were the company's unfulfilled promises.
Many of these workers had given up more than two acres of land for the project. In addition to the regular compensation, the company had offered them either a one-time payment of Rs 5.5 lakh or a job at the plant. Many had chosen the job, hoping for steady work.
But instead of being hired directly by Adani Power, most were taken on contract through outsourcing firms. On March 31, workers got emails saying they were being shifted to another contractor. Fearing job insecurity, they went on a hunger strike, demanding that they be hired directly by Adani Power. The company maintained that it had provided jobs in accordance with the central land acquisition law and the resettlement rules of Jharkhand.
The strike ended on April 10 after Jharkhand’s labour minister Sanjay Yadav intervened, visiting the protest site to meet the striking workers. At the meeting, the mukhiya of one of the project-affected villages said in the presence of the minister that Adani Power had failed to deliver on a wider set of promises made to local people.
Scroll travelled to the villages where discontentment against the project was widespread. A spokesperson of Adani Power, however, claimed that the corporate social responsibility department of the company had “actively worked in line with the commitments, focusing on holistic community development”.
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