Tamil People's Concerns over India's Solar Project (Coal Plant) In Sampoor and India-Sri Lanka MoUs



The Sampur Solar Projects (AKA: Coal Power Plant) and Tamil Communities: Land, Identity, and India’s Development Agenda in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province


Introduction

The evolution of the Sampur Power Plant project-transitioning from an Indian-backed coal venture to a solar initiative-serves as a powerful lens to examine the intersection of energy policy, post-war development, geopolitics, and minority rights in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province. This report offers a comprehensive and contextualized analysis of the historical background, strategic and economic motivations, key Sri Lanka-India agreements, and, critically, the responses of local Tamil communities who have long perceived such megaprojects as new avenues of displacement and ethnic marginalization under the banners of progress and security. Through in-depth exploration of displacement accounts, legal and social mobilization, the discovery of human remains and suspected mass graves, and present project developments, this report foregrounds the pressing concerns around land, identity, reparations, and justice that continue to animate the struggle for recognition and redress among Sri Lanka’s Tamil population.


Historical Background: The Sampur Power Plant in Context

Trincomalee and Sampur: A Region Shaped by Conflict and Transformation

Sampur, situated in the Trincomalee District of Eastern Sri Lanka, has long been a flashpoint for Sri Lankan ethnic politics and post-war state development policies. Home to a predominantly Tamil population, this region was deeply affected by the country’s three-decade civil conflict, particularly during military offensives in the late 20th and early 21st centuries1. As the site where large numbers of Tamil families fled repeated waves of violence-most notably during the Sampur Massacre of July 1990-Sampur’s history is one of trauma, survival, and contested claims of belonging and ownership2. The strategic importance of Trincomalee, possessing one of the world’s best natural harbors, further intensified its role in both military strategy and post-war development planning, making Sampur a focal point for both national and international interests.

Origins and Genesis of the Sampur Power Plant Project

The idea for a major energy development in Sampur first took concrete shape in the mid-2000s, as part of joint Indo-Lankan efforts to address Sri Lanka’s burgeoning electricity needs and strategically cement bilateral ties3. In June 2005, India's National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) proposed a coal or liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant of 900 MW, later reduced to a 500 MW coal-fired project4. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the first phase was signed on 29 December 2006 between the Government of Sri Lanka, the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB), and NTPC4. The site chosen for the plant was land in Sampur, formerly home to hundreds of Tamil families who had been displaced by war and government-declared high-security zones.

Tumultuous Development Path

The project’s trajectory was marred by frequent delays, legal challenges, environmental opposition, and mounting resistance from local communities. By the early 2010s, after more than seven years of bureaucratic hurdles and site preparation-including the demolition of local homes and the fencing off of erstwhile Tamil agricultural lands-the Power Purchase Agreement, Land Lease, and other related contracts were signed in 201356. The project, however, would never materialize in its original coal-fired form. Instead, a series of environmental, legal, and social mobilizations ultimately culminated in the project’s official cancellation in 2016 and its eventual reconfiguration into a solar energy venture by 20256. The consequences for local populations, however, remained deeply entangled with unresolved issues of land, displacement, and community identity.


Strategic and Economic Significance

Trincomalee’s Geopolitical Position

Trincomalee’s port and its surrounding lands have for decades attracted the interest of regional powers. For India, close engagement in the development of Sampur and associated energy infrastructure has served multiple security, economic, and diplomatic goals-including energy access, influence over shipping lanes, and counterbalancing China’s growing presence elsewhere on the island (as with Hambantota Port)7. The proximity of Sampur to the Trincomalee harbor elevated the location’s symbolic and material value in strategic calculus, making any project there especially consequential.

Energy Policy, Economic Development, and Post-war Reconstruction

From Sri Lanka’s perspective, the impetus for a major power plant in Sampur was rooted in concerns about energy security. The country faced frequent power shortages and blackouts, underscoring the critical need for new base-load generating capacity to fuel economic recovery after the war8. Partnering with India, one of the world’s energy giants, was also seen as a way to secure financing, technology transfer, and regional goodwill. The joint venture structure (CEB and NTPC as 50:50 owners) theoretically promised mutual benefit, but local and expert criticism pointed to lopsided risk-sharing and issues of sovereignty7.

Transformation to Solar: Aligning with Sustainable Development Goals

By the early 2020s, domestic and international pressures to shift away from fossil fuels-along with the environmental and social controversies dogging the coal project-led to the prioritization of renewable alternatives. Sri Lanka set an ambitious target of achieving 70% renewable energy capacity by 2030, supported by international aid (notably from Japan and the United Nations) and partnerships with India and other global actors98. The transformation to a solar project in Sampur, now under construction, is thus a critical pivot toward energy transition, though it does not resolve all the issues raised by affected Tamil communities9.


India’s Role and Involvement

The Institutional Structure of Cooperation

India’s engagement in Sampur was cemented through direct economic and technical partnership. NTPC, India’s state-owned power utility and one of the world’s largest, was the designated lead for the construction and operation of the plant, in a joint venture with Sri Lanka’s CEB under the banner of Trincomalee Power Company Limited (TPCL)310. The joint venture was set up for both the planned 500 MW coal plant and its later solar incarnation, encompassing all relevant contracts: Power Purchase Agreement, Implementation Agreement, Land Lease, and Coal (later Renewable) Supply Agreements.

Beyond Energy: India’s Regional Security Calculus

For New Delhi, the Sampur project was always more than an energy project. Its proximity to Trincomalee meant that Indian interests would be directly impacted by whatever infrastructure was constructed (or not) there7. Indian development financing, including $200 million in concessional lines of credit, technical capacity-building, and high-level political engagement (as seen in the 2025 ground-breaking by Prime Minister Narendra Modi), all affirmed the strategic, not merely commercial, character of the project119.

Diplomatic Bargaining and Project Evolution

Initial Indian enthusiasm for a coal plant was balanced by domestic Sri Lankan political currents, environmental activism, and concerns about social justice for local populations. Persistent disagreements over project structure, environmental impacts, and the scope of land acquisition repeatedly delayed implementation. Critically, domestic pushback in Sri Lanka-from environmental advocates, Tamil political leaders, and ultimately the courts-forced a recalibration, leading to the agreement to convert the plan to a solar-based joint venture by the mid-2020s3.


Key Sri Lanka-India Memorandums of Understanding and Agreements

The history of the Sampur power project is marked by a series of formal and informal agreements between Sri Lanka and India, many of which have generated controversy regarding terms, process, and community impact. The table below summarizes the principal MoUs and related agreements governing the project’s evolution:

Date

Agreement/MoU

Parties Involved

Key Terms/Provisions

Controversies and Critiques

Dec 29, 2006

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for 500 MW coal plant

Govt. of Sri Lanka, CEB, NTPC (India)

Joint development of 2x250 MW coal plant at Sampur, Trincomalee; full project structure outlined

Concerns over land appropriation, lack of community consultation; displacement of local Tamils

Oct 7, 2013

Power Purchase, Implementation, BOI, Land Lease, and Coal Supply Agreements

Govt. of Sri Lanka, CEB, NTPC, TPCL

Long-term land lease for project site; supply of imported coal; commitment to operationalize by 2017; exclusive joint control

Secretive terms, operational control by NTPC, cost escalation, loss of local jobs; environmental objections

July 11, 2015

Joint Venture and Shareholder Agreement

CEB, NTPC

50:50 equity structure; long-term technology transfer and operation; inclusion of enhancement clause for further capacity

Alleged lack of transparency; risk of Sri Lankan sovereignty over critical infrastructure

2016

Project Cancellation Decision (SC undertaking)

Ministry of Power/Energy, EFL (petitioners), Supreme Court

Govt. informs Supreme Court project will not proceed; fundamental rights application resolved

Failure to offer immediate land return or resettlement to displaced; project area remains under control

Mar 1, 2022-2025

Revised MoU and Power Purchase Agreement for 120 MW solar project

CEB, NTPC, GOI, GOSL

Conversion to phased solar facility (50 MW, then 70 MW); cost and technology terms (tariff set at 5.97 US cents/unit); battery storage included

Local claims of continued land exclusion, insufficient compensation, lack of prior and informed consent

This table encapsulates the agreements’ structure, while below paragraphs examine the implications and analysis stemming from these documents.

The original Memorandum of Understanding was hailed as a milestone in bilateral economic relations, underscoring the willingness of both countries to forge ahead with strategic energy sector collaboration12. However, the agreements were consistently criticized by Tamil political parties (notably the Tamil National Alliance), land rights campaigners, and civil society groups for their failure to acknowledge or consult the local Tamil communities whose lands had been appropriated during and after the conflict4.

Moreover, certain contract provisions entrenched foreign (Indian) operational control; for instance, in the case of any early transfer of the plant to Sri Lanka’s CEB, the pricing structure could allow NTPC to demand substantial compensation, raising concerns about Sri Lankan sovereignty and cost overruns7. The 2013-15 period saw intense negotiation and lobbying, with ongoing rumors of political connections influencing land allocations for industrial projects adjacent to the power plant, further intensifying public skepticism and eroding trust in the process.

Finally, the Supreme Court-acknowledged cancellation of the coal plant in 2016 did not immediately grant land restitution or redress for displaced families. Instead, much of the area remained under control of state bodies, the Navy, or earmarked for new renewable projects, prolonging uncertainty for those awaiting a return home.



Perceptions and Concerns of Local Tamil Communities

Land Rights and the Trauma of Displacement

The core grievance of Tamil communities in Sampur revolves around land. The area earmarked for the coal (and later solar) power plant corresponded directly to land traditionally owned and cultivated by Tamil families for generations1314. During the conflict, between 2006-2009, extensive swathes of lands were reclassified as high-security zones (HSZ) and forcibly cleared of local residents, many of whom were interned in camps or forced to live in squalor on the periphery, deprived of their means of livelihood and ancestral connection1. Postwar, the promise of resettlement was repeatedly deferred or fragmented, with significant tracts retained for state security purposes or handed over for development.

Case studies and interviews illustrate the enduring psychological, economic, and cultural costs of displacement. Villagers accustomed to self-sustaining agriculture and fishing lamented the loss of access to fertile land, reliable water sources, temples, and cemeteries-core elements of their identity as a community1. Some displaced families were reportedly offered minimal, unsuitable land for resettlement, often in remote or arid locations, with little or no compensation provided for lost assets or opportunity14.

Continued Expropriation: Solar Project as Recurring Injustice

The shift from coal to solar power, while environmentally welcome, has not resolved these tensions for locals. The new solar project, backed by Indian and Sri Lankan agencies, is sited on the same (or adjacent) land that had been seized decades earlier, still behind fences and off-limits to the original claimants15. Local residents, including leaders from the AHAM Humanitarian Resource Center and other civil society organizations, continue to demand that their lands be returned, or at the very least that meaningful, transparent, and consultative compensation processes be organized, with many expressing skepticism about the authorities’ willingness to follow through14.

Many villagers view the designation of their homeland for first a coal and then a solar megaproject as a form of “development-based ethnic cleansing,” emphasizing the pattern by which Tamil-majority areas are targeted for state-oriented projects without proper participation or consent, while Sinhalese-majority areas are rarely subjected to equivalent schemes.

Livelihoods, Cultural Survival, and Marginalization

For the Tamil farmers and fishers of Sampur and neighboring villages, the loss of land is inseparable from broader processes of cultural and social marginalization. Traditional forms of worship, education, and burial have all been disrupted-Hindu temples destroyed or inaccessible, schools and cemeteries co-opted for military or industrial use, and daily life reshaped by dependency on government handouts and precarious labor in unfamiliar towns13.

Resentment is compounded by perceptions of broken political promises-from Presidential campaigns that fail to deliver meaningful land reform, to new agreements that bypass the affected communities altogether. The incremental release of land (in small tranches, often years apart) has not resolved the substantive issues, especially when state or military actors continue to occupy large tracts or profitable coastal access points16.


Legal Challenges, Local Resistance, and Demands for Consultation

Early Mobilization: Protests, Hunger Strikes, and Lawsuits

Local Tamil opposition to the Sampur power projects has manifested in a blend of visible protest, hunger strikes, and strategic legal intervention. As early as 2014 and 2015, hundreds of Tamil residents, including refugee camp dwellers, staged hunger strikes and demonstrations demanding their right to return and to repossess their lands17. Politically, members of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and sympathetic lawyers filed fundamental rights cases and submitted petitions to both national courts and international human rights bodies.

When the original coal project began to move forward in the early 2010s, legal action was pursued on several grounds:

·       Environmental and health risks to local (including Tamil) populations

·       Violation of due process and lack of free, prior, and informed consent

·       Disregard for the rights of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and lack of adequate compensation or resettlement planning

In parallel, land rights campaigners documented the ongoing occupation of vast tracts by the Sri Lankan Navy and industrial enterprises linked to politically connected businessmen, arguing that these were cases of illegal seizure, not lawful expropriation for public interest16.

The Supreme Court Cases and the Environment Foundation Limited’s (EFL) Legal Win

A turning point came in May 2016, when the EFL and allied activists filed a Fundamental Rights Application to Supreme Court, arguing both environmental (risk of pollution and ecosystem damage) and procedural failings (lack of valid environmental impact assessment and disregard for earlier judicial rulings) in the approvals process for the coal plant18.

The government, perhaps under pressure from both local opposition and international climate commitments, eventually undertook before the Supreme Court not to proceed with the coal power plant in Sampur. This legal outcome was celebrated by environmentalists and community activists alike, though many Tamil residents pointed out that the victory did not translate into outright land return or reparations for past injustices19.

Continued Resistance Amid Solar Transition

The ensuing solar project has also not escaped resistance-albeit with some hope for more environmentally sustainable outcomes. Protests and petitions continue to call attention to the ongoing occupation of ancestral lands by both the Navy and energy developers, with letters and legal documentation highlighted as evidence in appeals to the Eastern Province Governor and the national administration14. In 2025, coinciding with the solar plant’s ground-breaking (inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi and President Dissanayake), locals staged protests pointing out the failure to restore land or compensate the more than 1000+ original claimants-even as the state and Indian parties announced a “clean energy milestone”11.

Key Legal and Social Demands

Tamil community demands, as articulated in public petitions, press statements, and human rights complaints, have focused on several recurring themes:

·       Full restitution of all lands classified as state or HSZ property that originally belonged to Tamil villagers

·       Proper and adequate compensation for those permanently dispossessed or unable to return due to destroyed homes or altered economic circumstances

·       Transparent and participatory processes for development projects, including free, prior, and informed consent, not just token consultation

·       Preservation of cultural and religious sites (temples, cemeteries)

·       Demilitarization and removal of security installations not directly justified by wartime needs

·       Guarantees against future displacement disguised as development

These themes illustrate the depth of unresolved issues in the Sampur story, transcending environmental or economic arguments to reach the heart of questions around justice, reparations, and community identity.


Case Studies of Displaced Families

Firsthand narratives offer a window into the human cost of these protracted land disputes and megaproject politics. In many cases, the stories of Sampur’s displaced families are emblematic of broader Tamil experiences across the North and East13.

One widow recounted how her husband, dying of cancer, longed to be buried in his hometown of Sampur, after years of living in squalor in government-run displacement camps. Only after legal and administrative advocacy could she arrange for his burial in the cemetery, which itself had been converted into a part of a military base. After a Supreme Court decision in 2015, a small group of families (about 250 out of nearly a thousand) was allowed incremental access to their land-only to find it overgrown, ruined, and bereft of infrastructure. Even with compensation promises of 38,000 rupees (~$275), families faced costs far greater simply to clear brush and replant fields.

In other interviews, villagers described watching their former fertile fields-once a source of selfsufficiency and dignity-become barren sites for industry or fenced-military compounds, forcing them into a life of dependency, “begging for water and food” from government aid while watching others profit from what was rightfully theirs1.

A recurring complaint is the persistent state and administrative opacity around deeds, property records, and compensation processing, with frequent demands that villagers produce “original documents” lost or destroyed during the war. This Kafkaesque bureaucratic barrier has become one of the main obstacles to any meaningful settlement16.


Discovery of Human Remains and Suspected Mass Graves

The 1990 Sampur Massacre and Calls for Justice

The legacy of the 1990 Sampur Massacre looms large over both community consciousness and the region’s public memory. On July 7, 1990, the Sri Lankan military launched a violent crackdown, killing at least 57 Tamil civilians (many women and children) in a single day. Subsequent military operations drove hundreds more into the nearby forests, with estimates of deaths in the region exceeding 150 during that period2.

For decades, family members and activists have commemorated the massacre, carrying the demand for international accountability and forensic investigation into possible mass graves and disappearances associated with the attacks.

2025 Discovery of Human Remains in Sampur

In July 2025, workers from the British demining organization Mine Action Group uncovered human skeletal remains-including a human skull-during landmine clearance at a children’s park in Sampur, mere meters from the original 1990 massacre site20. The discovery prompted local judicial intervention: Magistrate M. M. Nasleem suspended further demining and ordered archaeological investigation and forensics. The possibility that this is another mass grave from the Civil War era has reignited community demands for independent, internationally supervised forensic investigations and for government acknowledgment of the full extent of war-era mass killings21.

Broader Pattern of Mass Graves in Sri Lanka

The context of the Sampur find is a broader wave of mass grave exhumations across Sri Lanka-most notoriously at Chemmani (Jaffna), Kurukkalmadam (Batticaloa), and other sites where wartime atrocities against Tamils have been suspected or documented22. Critics and human rights lawyers argue that unless the government collaborates with international forensic anthropologists and DNA laboratories, these investigations will remain inconclusive and open to manipulation. The persistence of these graves, some 15+ years after the end of war, stands as a stark reminder that Sri Lankan reconciliation remains incomplete, especially for Tamils seeking truth, justice, and closure.


The Current Status of the Sampur Power Project

From Coal to Solar: Technical and Policy Updates

In response to years of opposition, the Sampur coal project was formally abandoned by the Sri Lankan state in 2016. This decision, hailed by both environmental and Tamil activists, was also celebrated as an alignment with Sri Lanka’s Paris Climate Agreement commitments and a national shift toward sustainable energy196. The area’s pristine coral reefs and unique marine ecosystems, together with concerns about particulate and chemical pollution, were cited as key justifications for the shift.

By 2025, following intensive diplomacy and renegotiation, Sri Lanka and India have agreed to a 120 MW solar power project-developed in two phases (first 50 MW, then 70 MW), under the aegis of NTPC and CEB’s joint venture TPCL119. The finalized tariff has been set at 5.97 US cents per unit, with the latest technology-including battery energy storage-incorporated for grid stability and efficiency.

The solar farm is expected to break ground on a 500-acre tract, previously earmarked for the coal plant and still contested by local claimants. Transmission infrastructure is being funded in part by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), with complementary rural electrification and grid upgrades extending to Kappalthurai and New Habarana23.

Continued Social and Environmental Concerns

While the transition to solar is widely seen as a positive step for Sri Lanka’s energy security and climate goals, Tamil organizations and affected families maintain that the development model continues to exclude them from decision-making and restitution. Issues around incomplete or denied compensation, continuing occupation of lands by the Navy, and opaque grievance processes have been raised in successive protests, petitions to the Human Rights Commission, and direct appeals to political authorities14. Notably, some families-frustrated by the slow progress-have refused to accept resettlement on barren lands or nominal payments, insisting on restoration of their original, fertile properties.

Local protests, notably during the high-profile inauguration of the solar plant by Indian and Sri Lankan leaders in April 2025, once again underscored the disconnect between national energy achievement narratives and community experiences of persistent dispossession9.


Future Plans, Alternatives, and Community Demands

Sri Lanka’s Energy Future: Renewable Priorities

National energy policy has now set the goal of 70% renewable energy in the grid mix by 2030, supported by a suite of solar, wind, and small hydro initiatives, alongside international grant and soft loan funding-especially from Japan and the United Nations8. The Clean Sri Lanka initiative includes rural solarizations, biogas dissemination, and improved cookstove programs specifically targeting vulnerable farming communities in the North and East. Improved transmission infrastructure, such as the New Habarana - Kappalthurai double-circuit line, is being developed in line with international best social and environmental practices, aiming to minimize further livelihood and resettlement disruptions23.

The Sampur solar plant represents a critical test for the inclusivity and justice of Sri Lanka’s “green” transition-success will depend not only on technical performance and emission reductions, but on whether local populations tangibly benefit and see their rights and needs respected.

Demands for Genuine Consultation and Participatory Development

Tamil civil society groups, both regionally and in the diaspora, continue to accentuate the importance of free, prior, and informed consent, transparent consultation processes, and the restitution of ancestral lands as prerequisites for any future projects, whether energy, industrial, or touristic in nature. Olivine advocacy efforts frame these demands as necessary both for reconciliation and for breaking the cycle of enforced marginalization that characterizes much of Sri Lanka’s post-war development trajectory14.

Additionally, activists and families have called for:

·       Monitored, international forensic investigations of all suspected mass grave sites, including DNA testing and public reporting

·       Establishment of independent land commissions to address unresolved land restitution cases

·       Preservation and rebuilding of destroyed cultural and religious sites

·       Legal and social accountability for historic atrocities, committed both by state actors and their proxies

Sri Lanka’s ability to build a truly post-war, inclusive developmental state may well depend on how it responds to these calls-not just in Sampur, but across its multi-ethnic polity.


Conclusion

The story of the Sampur Power Plant-its origins, controversies, and evolving aftermath-offers a microcosm of several enduring themes in contemporary Sri Lanka: the entangled legacies of war and displacement; the competing logics of geopolitics, national development, and minority rights; and the ongoing struggle between centralized state planning, international interests, and locally-rooted demands for justice.

Key Takeaways

·       Land, livelihood, and heritage remain at the core of Tamil community grievances in Sampur.

·       Transition from coal to solar represents progress in environmental terms but has not resolved the fundamental issues of justice or inclusion for local Tamils.

·       India’s role, while pivotal for strategic and energy development, raises questions about regional influence and the place of marginalized minorities in shaping their own future.

·       Recent discoveries of human remains and commemoration of past massacres reinforce the need for meaningful truth, accountability, and reparation processes.

·       The success of renewable energy modernization in Sri Lanka will ultimately be measured not only in megawatts or carbon saved, but in the fulfillment of rights, dignity, and security for all its people, especially those whose histories are so deeply tied to the lands in question.


Appendix: Table of Key Sampur Project MoUs and Agreements

Date

Agreement/MoU

Parties Involved

Key Terms/Provisions

Controversies and Critiques

Dec 29, 2006

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for 500 MW coal plant

Govt. of Sri Lanka, CEB, NTPC (India)

Joint development of 2x250 MW coal plant at Sampur, Trincomalee; full project structure outlined

Concerns over land appropriation, lack of community consultation; displacement of local Tamils

Oct 7, 2013

Power Purchase, Implementation, BOI, Land Lease, and Coal Supply Agreements

Govt. of Sri Lanka, CEB, NTPC, TPCL

Long-term land lease for project site; supply of imported coal; commitment to operationalize by 2017; exclusive joint control

Secretive terms, operational control by NTPC, cost escalation, loss of local jobs; environmental objections

July 11, 2015

Joint Venture and Shareholder Agreement

CEB, NTPC

50:50 equity structure; long-term technology transfer and operation; inclusion of enhancement clause for further capacity

Alleged lack of transparency; risk of Sri Lankan sovereignty over critical infrastructure

2016

SC Undertaking to Cancel

Ministry of Power/Energy, EFL (petitioners), Supreme Court

Govt. informs Supreme Court project will not proceed; fundamental rights application resolved

Failure to offer immediate land return or resettlement to displaced; project area remains under control

Mar 2022-2025

Revised MoU and Power Purchase Agreement for 120 MW solar project

CEB, NTPC, GOI, GOSL

Conversion to phased solar facility (50 MW, then 70 MW); cost and technology terms (tariff set at 5.97 US cents/unit); battery storage included

Local claims of continued land exclusion, insufficient compensation, lack of prior and informed consent

Each agreement above reflects broader tensions between development imperatives, environmental responsibility, and the imperative to recognize and uphold minority rights. Only by comprehensively addressing these interlinked challenges can the continuing project in Sampur-and similar future initiatives-fulfill their potential as engines for shared progress and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.


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