“Not so clean: Why workers are leaving India’s green energy projects”

A month into his new job at the world’s largest renewable energy park in Khavada in Gujarat’s Rann of Kutch, Anawar Alam was planning his escape…

“Nothing really prepared us for where we would be working or the fact that it was so far from the nearest village. The work was strenuous, the shift was for 12 hours, and we were living in makeshift tents…

“It was incredibly hot, and the contractor kept yelling at us for not working longer or harder, threatening us by saying that he would kill us and no one would even know where we had disappeared….

…Drawn largely from the hinterlands of Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, they arrive in their hundreds to work on the under construction solar projects…

…There are six developers who have been allotted land to develop renewable energy here, including the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), Gujarat Industrial Power Company Limited and Adani Green Energy Limited…

The Gujarat Power Corporation Limited and Solar Energy Corporation of India did not respond to repeated requests for comment. The Migration Story also reached out to other companies operating out of the park but did not get any response…

[Journalists also contacted Gujarat Industrial Power Company and Adani Green Energy for comment.]