Dalits of town near Ahmedabad protest against 5-yr delay in allocating housing plots set aside for them

By Our Representative
Hundreds of safai karmacharis, mainly belonging to the Dalit Valmiki community, have protested against the failure of the Gujarat government to allocate them land for building houses in Viramgam, a town situated in the neighbourhood of Ahmedabad, whose vicinity is likely to see major industrial activity in the near future. The local municipality gave a nod for two plots of land – Survey Nos 377 and 178-- measuring 21,954 square metres way back in 2010, so that they could build their own houses. But so far nothing has been done to allocate the land to the "neglected" families, many of whom are permanent members of municipality, while others are daily wagers.
Headed by Safai Kamdar Hak Rakshak Samiti, and supported by Ahmedabad-based Dalit rights NGO Navsarjan Trust, five representatives of the rally – Shanti Shankar, Rajesh Makwana (both of the Safai Hak Rakshak Samiti), Kirit Rathod, Ramilaben Parmar and Jayaben Parmar (of the Navsarjan Trust) – represented to the chief officer of the Varamgam municipality with a signed letter to bring an early solution to the long-pending issue. The representation said that the delay in allocating plots has been happening despite repeated reminders by the district collector Ahmedabad to hand them over to them.
Kirit Rathod told Counterview at the end of the rally that the last plea by the district collector reminding the local officials of Viramgam to act was sent on May 23, 2014, “and so far he has sent as many as three other reminders over the last three years.” However, he added, “The local officials are not sensitive towards the issue at all. They have simply ignored the Dalits’ right to get the plots under a government scheme, forcing us to take out a rally to pressure the officialdom to act.”

Kirit Rathod, second from left, after handing over letter

Rathod said, the plots are not being allocated to the Dalits despite the fact that Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel, as former revenue minister last year “assured during her visit to Viramgam that the plots would be allocated.” He added, “This was not for the first time that she gave the assurance. She did this at least twice earlier. Yet, the local officialdom has failed to act, and the Dalits are not being allocated any land.”
Rathod said, this is not the only issue that the Dalits face. “Even if they get land, it would not be easy for them to build houses. What they will get is just about Rs 40,000 from the government, while the rest of the amount – Rs 60,000 – they would be given as soft loan. You cannot be expected to build even a small room with Rs 1 lakh. They will have to shell our rest of the money from their own pocket. It is indeed a tall order.”
Rathod further said, unlike in the big cities, where the slum-dwellers are being offered free flats, the government has “no scheme for the smaller towns, operating under as municipalities, where the poor could get their own house free of cost.” He added, “There is a clear effort to neglect the plight of the poorer sections of smaller towns, which are fast becoming part of the fast industrial process around Ahmedabad.”

Comments

Modi, Shah 'forget': Gandhi’s first Satyagraha was against citizenship law of South Africa

By Nachiketa Desai*
Hindu fanatic Nathuram Godse assassinated Mahatma Gandhi once on January 30, 1948 but his followers raising the war cry of ‘Jai Sriram’ are killing the Mahatma every day. In his home state of Gujarat, Gandhiji was killed a thousand times in 2002 when over 2,000 Muslims were butchered, their women raped, homes and shops plundered and set on fire and even unborn babies ripped out of the wombs of their mothers.

Union Budget 'moves away' from Right to Education, 1.3 lakh schools closed down

By Dr Aparajita Sharma*
It was a shocking reply by the Union human resource development minister to a question raised in Parliament on closure of schools in a country where lakhs of children are still out of school. On December 2, the minister, Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, told Lok Sabha that the NITI Aayog’s education project, Sath-E, has led to 35,996 schools of different levels being merged in Madhya Pradesh, 4,312 in Jharkhand and 1,803 in Odisha. NITI Aayog is the Central Government’s policy think-tank.

CAA-NPR-NRC will 'target' 99% homeless, who are without birth certificates: NCU

Counterview Desk
Claiming to base on a survey in five states (Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu), which finds that over 99% of the homeless people do not have birth certificates, a civil rights organization which networks activists, researchers, urban practioners, lawyers, informal sector workers, has claimed that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), as also the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC) and the National Population Register (NPR), are likely to adversely impact this section the most.

Modi 'warned': Will not remain silent when women are labelled terrorists and traitors

Counterview Desk
As many as 13 women's rights organizations and 162 individuals have issued an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that in the light of hate speeches during Delhi elections, especially directed against women, it is his "Constitutional duty to protect all citizens" and tell his partymen "to fight the elections in a manner that upholds the Constitution, not one that increases the fear and insecurity among women."

Savarkar 'criminally betrayed' Netaji and his INA by siding with the British rulers

By Shamsul Islam*
RSS-BJP rulers of India have been trying to show off as great fans of Netaji. But Indians must know what role ideological parents of today's RSS/BJP played against Netaji and Indian National Army (INA). The Hindu Mahasabha and RSS which always had prominent lawyers on their rolls made no attempt to defend the INA accused at Red Fort trials.

Law 'governing' world's tallest Statue of Unity refers to local tribals as occupiers

By Rohit Prajapati, Krishnakant*
The recently enacted Statue of Unity (SoU) Area Development and Tourism Governance Act, 2019 in Gujarat comes amidst a terrifying atmosphere of intimidation, house arrests, detentions and FIRs, not to mention the overarching implementation of Section 144 across the state.

Anti-CAA: Mallika Sarabhai joins students, faculty to protest dy CM's 'divisive' talk

By Our Representative
Taking strong exception to deputy chief minister Nitin Patel’s statement against those protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC), well-known danseuse Mallika Sarabhai has joined tens of activists and students and faculty of Gujarat University, CEPT University, Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad, Gujarat Vidyapeeth and Nirma University to say that they are seeking “azadi” from the fascist and communal forces of the country.

Savarkar in Ahmedabad 'declared' two-nation theory in 1937, Jinnah followed 3 years later

By Our Representative
One of the top freedom fighters whom BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi revere the most, Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, was also a great supporter of the two nation theory for India, one for Hindus another for Muslims, claims a new expose on the man who is also known to be the original proponent of the concept of Hindutva.

Mystery around Gujarat PSU 'transfer' of Rs 250 crore to Canadian firm Karnalyte

By AK Luke, IAS (Retd)*
While returning from a Board meeting of the Oil India Limited (OIL) in Ahmedabad some time in 2012, two officers of the Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals Ltd (GSFC), Nanavaty and Patel, saw me off at the airport. They said they were proceeding to Canada in connection with a project GSFC had entered into with a company there. As we were running late, I hastily wished them the best.

Counterview

Search This Blog