1250 families in posh western Ahmedabad forced to defecate in open, have no houses for 20 years, Gujarat CM told

Parsottam Vaghela in a Valmiki locality

By A Representative
Providing a glimpse of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s model city, Manav Garima Trust (MGT), a voluntary organization working among the Valmiki community for over 15 years, has revealed there are as many as 1,250 Valmiki families are living in western Ahmedabad’s post localities without any basic amenities, not to talk of housing.
In a representation to Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, MGT’s Parsottam Vaghela, has said, these families are “without any basic facilities and live either in the open or in make-shift shanties, with most of them working as sanitary workers under private contractors.” Valmikis are considered the lowest sub-caste among Dalits and have been working as manual scavengers.
Vaghela, who met Rupani in Gandhinagar Sachivalaya, told Counterview, “When I told chief minister that, sans any basic facilities, these families defecate in the open, he was in a state of disbelief, and immediately picked up the phone, asking the Ahmedabad municipal commissioner to look into the matter immediately.”
“Living in an atmosphere of insecurity, they have been living amidst filth for the last 15 to 20 years after migrating from other parts of Gujarat in search of job”, Vaghela said in his written representation, a copy of which is with Counterview, adding, “Most of them work in the nearby posh houses and flats as sanitary workers.”
Pointing out that their average life span is between 50 and 55 years, Vaghela said, “It has been our long-standing demand to provide them with permanent housing, in the same way as Modi, as Gujarat chief minister, gave housing to 370 families in Maninagar constituency in 2005 and 2008.”
Identifying the areas where these Valmiki families live – Vejalpur, Jodhpur, Thaltej, Bhamriya, Sola, Sarkhej, Makarba, Salpara, Bodakdev and Vastrapur – the representation said, nearly 2,800 children of these families are devoid of any proper education.
“Though enrolled in school, these children accompany their parents going to posh housing societies for cleaning work”, the representation said, adding, “Most of them drop out early. In fact, they are not part of any social policy of the state government.”
Giving the instance of 54 families, living in temporary shanties on Plot No 185 next to the Ishant Tower in the “developed” Jodhpur area, Vaghela said, “They have been living there for the last 12 years. Though they have all the documents such as election card, ration card, and were even taken in Modi’s Garib Melas, they are constantly threatened with eviction.”
Seeking alternative housing for these 54 families, Vaghela accused authorities of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) for keeping them on tenterhooks and fear, Vaghela said, families such as these are the worst off among the Valmiki community of Ahmedabad.
The representation included demand for the providing Rs 10 lakh, as directed by the Supreme Court, to each of the 170 Valmikis who have died in Gujarat due to asphyxiation while cleaning up gutters, and a complete ban on manual scavenging in Ahmedabad and the state.
It said, “There are 200 spots in Ahmedabad when dry latrines still exist, and where sanitary workers must clean them up manually every day. Many of them are employed as manhole workers and are forced to dangerously enter into gutters without any masks and other equipment, thus exposed to poisonous gases.”

Manhole worker files complaint
Two days after the representation, on November 30, a manual scavenger, Muljibhai Ambalal, filed a complaint with the police station in the well-off Vastrapur area, where he was forced to enter into the gutter in violation of the law, which prohibits manual scavenging.
Accompanied by Vaghela, Ambalal said in his complaint that he was “forced to enter into the gutter without any proper equipment”. He was not even made aware of the type of work which he was being forced to do before he was taken to the spot – near Sola Bridge, near Jognimata temple.

Comments

'Tax the top': Nationwide protests demand action as 1% control 40% of India’s wealth

By A Representative Civil rights groups across the country observed the martyrdom day of Bhagat Singh on March 23, as people from diverse backgrounds united to raise their voices against growing economic inequality. The mobilisations marked the launch of a nationwide campaign against inequality, running from March 23 to April 14 (Ambedkar Jayanti), under the banner of the “Tax The Top” campaign.

Fair prices, fresh produce: Vegetable market opens in Rajasthan tribal village

By Vikas Meshram* On 18 March 2026, the tribal village of Sajjangarh in southern Rajasthan witnessed the grand and dignified inauguration of a new vegetable market (mandi). Established through the tireless joint efforts of the Krushi Avam Adivasi Swaraj Sangathan (Bhilkuaan) and Vaagdhara, under the active leadership of the Gram Panchayat of Sajjangarh, the market is being hailed as a cornerstone for local self-governance, self-reliance, and a sustainable rural economy.

Study links sanctions to 500,000 deaths annually leading to rise in global backlash

By Bharat Dogra International opinion is increasingly turning against the expanding burden of sanctions imposed on a growing number of countries. These measures are contributing to humanitarian crises, intensifying domestic discord, and heightening international tensions, thereby increasing the risks of conflicts and wars.

Ex-IAS Atanu Chakraborty and a tale of two different Gujarat vision documents

By Rajiv Shah The likely appointment of Atanu Chakraborty as HDFC Bank chairman interested me for several reasons, but above all because I have interacted with him closely during my more than 14 year stint in Gandhinagar for the “Times of India”. One of the few decent Gujarat cadre bureaucrats, Chakraborty, belonging to the 1985 IAS batch, at least till I covered Sachivalaya was surely above controversies. He loved to remain faceless, never desired publicity, was professional to the core, and never indulged in loose talk. When he neared retirement, which happened in April 2020, first there were rumours in Sachivalaya that he would be appointed SEBI chairman, and then there was talk he would be chairman (or was it CEO?) of Gujarat International Finance Tec (GIFT) City (a dream project of Narendra Modi as Gujarat chief minister, which as Prime Minister Modi wants to promote, come what may). But, for some strange reasons, and I don’t know why, none of this happened, despite the fact...

Witnessing Iran beyond propaganda: Truth, war, and the path beyond western paradigm

By Naile Manjarrés On June 23, 2025—marked as the 2nd of Tir, 1404, on the Persian calendar—a ceasefire between Iran and Israel was announced. This "night of the decree" shifted the trajectory of global affairs; although the world may appear unchanged on the surface, we have yet to fully grasp its impact.

When democracy becomes a performance: The Tibetan exile experience

By Tseten Lhundup* I was born in Bylakuppe, one of the largest Tibetan settlements in southern India. From childhood, I grew up in simple barracks, along muddy roads, and in fields with limited resources. Over the years, I have watched our democratic system slowly erode. Observing the recent budget session of the 17th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, these “democratic procedures” appear grand and orderly on the surface, yet in reality they amount to little more than empty formalities. The parliamentarians seem largely disconnected from the everyday struggles faced by ordinary exiled Tibetans like us.

Environmental expert urges policy overhaul as forest and water resources face critical decline

By A Representative On the occasion of World Forest Day and World Water Day , observed on March 21 and 22, environmental voices from the Western Ghats have issued a stark warning to the Union government, calling for an urgent paradigm shift in how India manages its interconnected natural resources. In a formal communication addressed to Union Minister for Jal Shakti , Sri C R Patil , and Union Minister for Forest, Environment and Climate Change , Sri Bhupendra Yadav , policy analyst Shankar Sharma has highlighted a growing disconnect between sectoral policies and the holistic reality of resource governance.

Gujarat cadre to HDFC: When bureaucratic style hits corporate walls

By Rajiv Shah I was a little amused by the abrupt March 17, 2026 resignation of Atanu Chakraborty —a Gujarat cadre IAS officer of the 1985 batch who retired from the government in 2020—as chairman of HDFC Bank . Much of what may have led to his decision to quit this ostensibly high post—actually a non-executive, part-time role—is by now well known. I followed most of it online with considerable interest, partly because I had interacted with him umpteen times during my stint as The Times of India correspondent in Gandhinagar from 1997 to 2012.

Weaponised bravery, institutionalised cowardice as the engine of authoritarianism

By Bhabani Shankar Nayak* The insidious politics of crony capitalism is accelerating at an unprecedented pace, aided by the reckless expansion of artificial intelligence and other technologies designed not to liberate but to dominate, domesticate, and dehumanise societies. Alongside this, an illiberal politics of cowardice is emerging—serving as an accomplice to dehumanisation amid growing imperialist wars and conflicts across the world. Death in distant lands no longer stirs conscience. The push-button culture of digital screens has transformed social media into a disconnected, individualised, Hobbesian space, where the puritan pursuit of self-interest is elevated as the essence of human existence.

Search This Blog