Basalt mining work at Deocha-Pachami resumed on Thursday evening after a series of meetings with villagers of the project area over the past 60 hours helped remove the charka placed by a group of local tribal people.

A group of tribal people, mainly women, had staged a protest rally on Tuesday, claiming that the government had not kept its promises. As part of their protest, they installed a charka, which led to work on Mamata Banerjee’s dream project getting stopped.

According to tribal tradition, a charka — a stick tied with hay — is installed at a site to stop work. The particular work cannot resume until it is removed.

“A few people, instigated by outsiders, tried to stop the ongoing work. However, the tribal people of the area assembled today (on Thursday) and allowed us to resume work,” said Birbhum district magistrate Bidhan Ray.

The resumption of work at Deocha-Pachami has come as a relief for the local administration as the ruling Trinamool Congress has pitched the project as a key success story in the state’s industrial development ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections.

The government is planning to begin basalt excavation as soon as possible. Since there is a thick layer of basalt above coal deposits, the overburden of black stone must be removed before coal mining can start.

Although officials and the administration are pleased with the resumption of work, a source indicated that some villagers from adjoining areas continued to protest, saying they would not allow coal mining in their region.

On Thursday afternoon, around 200 tribal residents from four villages gathered, demanding that the government address their concerns at an open meeting in the presence of all villagers from the coal mining project area.

However, in the evening, a tribal group led by village head Rabilal Tudu arrived at the site and removed the charka. This allowed the government to resume basalt
mining work.