Birbhum district police have launched special initiatives, ranging from healthcare to education, for the tribal population in Mohammed Bazar, especially on the site of the proposed Deocha Pachami coal mine project, in a bid to win over people.

Since June this year, police have initiated six special projects for the area, sources in the administration said.

These include Suraksha (health and eye check-up), Sparsha (distributing clothes or supporting locals with other needs), Pathshala (community school by police to reduce instances of dropouts), Uran 1.0 (professional training or career to the tribal youths) and Uran 2.0 (football coaching to tribal youths and encourage sports).

Police had also given musical instruments to at least 150 tribal dance troupes.

These initiatives are being deemed significant as the government won’t be able to move forward with chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s pet project if it fails to win the trust of the tribal populace in the area.

“The government will have to relocate hundreds of families, most of whom are tribals, to roll out the coal mine project. The government is yet to get a positive response from them over relocation. It will be interesting to see if these initiatives help,” said a senior official.

“Our main target is to send a message to the people of the remote areas like Mohammedbazar that the police are their friends. After months of legwork, we are confident that we have become their friends,” said Nagendra Nath Tripathi, superintendent of police.

The project is crucial to the state government as it would cut the need for regular purchase of coal from outside

and save a major outgo from the state exchequer, and is likely to create 1.5 jobs, said sources.

The proposed coal mine is spread over 11,222 acres with an estimated reserves of 2.2 billion tonnes.

The state government has formed a nine-member committee headed by actor Parambrata Chattopadhyay involving some tribal people and representatives of organisations to engage with local residents and know their

needs. Sources said the committee will hold a meeting this week before it submits its recommendations to the government.

In the past four months, police had organised at least a dozen eye and health check up camps, opened three community schools and proposed to open two more. There are regular coaching classes for job seekers in tribal hamlets.

The proposed coal mine is likely to spread mainly in four mouzas Deocha, Pachami, Harinsingha and Dewanganj.

Police sources said large-scale initiatives and coaching classes or teaching centres had started in those areas.

“We have reached out over 3,000 people with direct benefits and at least 5,000 more by extending other services. We found that there is a development gap and we are trying to bridge that,” said a senior police officer.

Rabin Soren, the secretary of Birbhum Adivasi Gaonta, the organisation which represents a section of tribal people, said the government assured them that they would talk to tribal people directly before starting the coal mine project.

“We will take a call once the government announces the (compensation) package,” said Soren.