Vibrant Gujarat?: Traditional handicrafts village of Kutch under threat from proposed steel plant

People shouting slogans against the project

The people of around ten villages surrounding Dhamadka, Anjar taluka, district Kutch, are angry. They are protesting against the proposed steel project, which their leaders believe will mean threat to their livelihood. Reverberations of the protests were first heard during the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) public hearing organized at the village on February 4, 2014. “The gathered villagers were of the opinion that they are already facing a resource scarcity in terms of water and land, and the upcoming expansion of the plant with huge production capacity will destroy their meagre resources”, said Ajitsinh Jadeja, sarpanch, Dhamadka group panchayat.
In a statement, Jadeja said the people of Dhamadka would suffer the most. “Kutch, the last frontier of Gujarat, is world famous for its craft skills. The region is home to many thriving traditional arts and crafts which sustain a large number of livelihoods in the area. Dhamadka is a craft village, where Khatri artisans are practicing the hand block printing craft since last 10 generations, now faces the threat of a Steel Plant being set up in its backyard”, it said.
The statement underlined, “The village has a craft turnover of 20 crore through its more than 70 block printing units. There are thousands of craft lovers, designers, tourists that visit the village from all over the world, every year, to see, understand and purchase products made with this great cultural tradition that not only belongs to the village but also to the region, state and the nation.”

Sarpanch Ajitsinh Jadeja speaks at public hearing

However, now, “the Dhamadka village and its traditional craft is facing threat from a steel plant which plans to extend its capacity on the revenue land of a village with survey no. 405/3, 406, and 407. The plant is intended to make products like MS Steel Ingots /Billets (six lakh tonnes per annum), MS Joists (two lakh tonnes per annum), TMT Bars/Angles/Channels (two lakh tonnes per annum) along with a coal fed captive power plant with capacity of 10 MW.”
“Once the steel plant and the coal fed captive power plant start functioning, it will have adverse effects not only on the artisanal practices of village but also the traditional occupations of agriculture and animal husbandry of the area”, the sarpanch pointed out, adding, “The pollution of the land and water will force them to abandon their traditional craft practices which currently support almost 700 artisans across Dhamadka Panchayat.”
Jadeja contended, “The pollution will create patches on the fabrics that are dried on the ground, and push water tables further down. Evidence suggests that the iron and coal dusts coming out of the plant will do irreparable damage to this thriving traditional craft and traditional occupational practices. The villages of Dhamadka were joined by farmers of 10 surrounding villages who gathered during the public hearing organized in the presence of YD Suthar, regional head, Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) and district magistrate DB Shah.”

Construction work of the project in progress

He added, “The farmers protested against the company and exposed the borewells they had already dug despite the NOC given the condition that it will not use the ground water for its production purpose.“ At the meeting, Jadeja “provided all the details to the government officials present during the public hearing. They demanded an independent probe of the issue.”
Jadeja said, in his bid to save the project, Manoj Jain, representing the company, “claimed that the company has started putting green cover around it and planted 1,500 trees. The artisans and farmers protested against these claims stating that there was not a single plantation undertaken by the Company, and that they were furnishing images of castor plants trees which were planted by local farmers in their fields.”
“The villagers gathered also provided details of the vibrant animal husbandry economy in the village due to the dairy movement by Sarhad diary. They feared that the environment pollution of this steel plant will affect the agriculture and animal husbandry adversely. Along with the farmers and artisans of surrounding villages, other village leaders present during the public hearing were Vastabhai of Dudhai, Vikrambhai and Rameshbhai Dangar of Kotda, Kanabhai of Chandrani, Ramdevsinh from Sukhpar and Navinbhai Patel of Sangamner. They all demanded firm and sensitive action from the district administration in the wake of the issues raised by them.”

Comments

When Pakistanis whispered: ‘end military rule’ — A Moscow memoir

During the recent anti-terror operation inside Pakistan by the Government of India, called Operation Sindoor — a name some feminists consider patently patriarchal, even though it’s officially described as a tribute to the wives of the 26 husbands killed in the terrorist strike — I was reminded of my Moscow stint, which lasted for seven long years, from 1986 to 1993.

Ahmedabad's civic chaos: Drainage woes, waterlogging, and the illusion of Olympic dreams

In response to my blog on overflowing gutter lines at several spots in Ahmedabad's Vejalpur, a heavily populated area, a close acquaintance informed me that it's not just the middle-class housing societies that are affected by the nuisance. Preeti Das, who lives in a posh locality in what is fashionably called the SoBo area, tells me, "Things are worse in our society, Applewood."

Tracking a lost link: Soviet-era legacy of Gujarati translator Atul Sawani

The other day, I received a message from a well-known activist, Raju Dipti, who runs an NGO called Jeevan Teerth in Koba village, near Gujarat’s capital, Gandhinagar. He was seeking the contact information of Atul Sawani, a translator of Russian books—mainly political and economic—into Gujarati for Progress Publishers during the Soviet era. He wanted to collect and hand over scanned soft copies, or if possible, hard copies, of Soviet books translated into Gujarati to Arvind Gupta, who currently lives in Pune and is undertaking the herculean task of collecting and making public soft copies of Soviet books that are no longer available in the market, both in English and Indian languages.

RP Gupta a scapegoat to help Govt of India manage fallout of Adani case in US court?

RP Gupta, a retired 1987-batch IAS officer from the Gujarat cadre, has found himself at the center of a growing controversy. During my tenure as the Times of India correspondent in Gandhinagar (1997–2012), I often interacted with him. He struck me as a straightforward officer, though I never quite understood why he was never appointed to what are supposed to be top-tier departments like industries, energy and petrochemicals, finance, or revenue.

Environmental report raises alarm: Sabarmati one of four rivers with nonylphenol contamination

A new report by Toxics Link , an Indian environmental research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi, in collaboration with the Environmental Defense Fund , a global non-profit headquartered in New York, has raised the alarm that Sabarmati is one of five rivers across India found to contain unacceptable levels of nonylphenol (NP), a chemical linked to "exposure to carcinogenic outcomes, including prostate cancer in men and breast cancer in women."

PharmEasy: The only online medical store which revises prices upwards after confirming the order

For senior citizens — especially those without a family support system — ordering medicines online can be a great relief. Shruti and I have been doing this for the last couple of years, and with considerable success. We upload a prescription, receive a verification call from a doctor, and within two or three days, the medicines are delivered to our doorstep.

A conman, a demolition man: How 'prominent' scribes are defending Pritish Nandy

How to defend Pritish Nandy? That’s the big question some of his so-called fans seem to ponder, especially amidst sharp criticism of his alleged insensitivity during his journalistic career. One such incident involved the theft and publication of the birth certificate of Masaba Gupta, daughter of actor Neena Gupta, in the Illustrated Weekly of India, which Nandy was editing at the time. He reportedly did this to uncover the identity of Masaba’s father.

Revisiting Gijubhai: Pioneer of child-centric education and the caste debate

It was Krishna Kumar, the well-known educationist, who I believe first introduced me to the name — Gijubhai Badheka (1885–1939). Hailing from Bhavnagar, known as the cultural capital of the Saurashtra region of Gujarat, Gijubhai, Kumar told me during my student days, made significant contributions to the field of pedagogy — something that hasn't received much attention from India's education mandarins. At that time, Kumar was my tutorial teacher at Kirorimal College, Delhi University.

A sector under siege? War and real estate: Navigating uncertainty in India's expanding market

I was a little surprised when I received an email alert from a top real estate consultant, Anarock Group , titled "Exploring War’s Effects on Indian Real Estate—When Conflict Meets Concrete," authored by its regional director and head of research, Dr. Prashant Thakur. I had thought that the business would wholeheartedly support what is considered a strong response to the dastardly terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Operation Sindoor.

Search This Blog