In 2008, Electrosteel Steels Limited (ESL) constructed a steel plant in Bokaro after receiving an environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change (MoEFCC). The Forest Department claimed the construction was an encroachment of forestland in violation of the Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980.

ESL reportedly deceived thousands of marginal farmers by misinforming them about the purpose of acquisition and not taking their consent. It was reported that the company’s middlemen purchased land at Rs 70,000-80,000 per acre, which was one-tenth of the government’s stipulated industry price at that time. As compensation, the farmers demanded jobs at the plant, but ESL employed only a few of them. When the farmers protested, the company, in collusion with local officials, pressed false charges against hundreds of them.

Between March 2009 and March 2016, the Forest Department filed 53 cases against the company on this issue. A Supreme Court-appointed centrally empowered committee took stock of the situation and asked Jharkhand’s chief secretary on 15 July 2010, to act immediately, but no action was taken.

In October 2014, over 500 local residents, including farmers, gheraoed the steel plant and demanded employment for those who were displaced by the plant. They alleged that the company had agreed to hire about 2,000 land losers as contractual labourers but failed to keep its end of the bargain. Another report mentioned other challenges that the steel plant would pose, including loss of livelihood, displacement, groundwater pollution and crop damage, among others.

According to a May 2017 site inspection report, ESL had sought environmental clearance (EC) in 2006-2007 for a site in Parbatpur; however, the report found that the actual site was located in Bhagaband, five kilometres away from the proposed area, implying that ESL had made misrepresentations to obtain the clearance.

In 2018, Vedanta took over ESL and announced that there would be a new plant in the same location. The estimated investment was approximately US $3-4 billion for a capacity of 4.5 million tonnes annually.

Following the acquisition, ESL applied for fresh forest and environmental clearances. In a meeting of the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) -- responsible for granting EC to development projects -- it was confirmed that ESL had violated provisions of the Environment Impact Assessment Notification, 2006. The EAC recommended issuing standard Terms of Reference to the project and directed the state government and the State Pollution Control Board to take action against the project proponent under the provisions of Section 19 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. The committee also ordered that ESL should not be granted consent to operate till the project is given an EC.

In December 2019, the MoEFCC “regularised” the encroachment and gave in-principle forest clearance to 174 hectares of forestland that was reportedly encroached by ESL.

A public hearing for the project was organised in December 2020 in the presence of villagers residing close to the steel plant. While the CEO of Chas Municipal Corporation, who chaired the hearing, maintained that the hearing was successful and villagers had given their consent to the plant, people protested outside the plant premises, alleging that the hearing was conducted without informing the public at large.

In September 2021, three labourers died due to safety lapses while carrying out routine elevator maintenance work at the Electrosteel Steels Limited (ESL) plant in Bokaro. In December 2021, the Supreme Court, in Electrosteel Steels Limited v. Union of India, directed the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) to reconsider ESL’s pending environmental clearance application within a stipulated timeframe, while allowing the plant’s operations to continue in the interim. Around the same period, Vedanta announced plans to expand the project.

Contract workers have repeatedly protested over unpaid dues, delayed wages, and job insecurity, leading to work stoppages and plant shutdowns during 2024–2025. In August 2025, farmer and worker protests over waterlogging and improper wastewater discharge from the steel plant escalated into clashes with the police, resulting in injuries and detentions.

ESL’s Stage-I forest clearance granted in December 2019 was revoked in June 2023, following which the company submitted a fresh forest clearance application in December 2024, which is currently under consideration. In May 2025, the Jharkhand High Court remanded the 2008 environmental clearance revocation to the MoEFCC for a fresh hearing, with further proceedings pending.