Gujarat govt rejects farmers' plea to return 566 sq km land "reserved" for Ahmedabad urbanization

Nitin Patel

The Gujarat government has rejected the demand of the agitating farmers of 68 villages, seeking to cancel the crucial 2009 notification, which has allegedly reserved 566.35 sq km of agricultural area in the outskirts of Ahmedabad for urban development.
Gujarat's deputy chief minister Nitin Patel, rejecting the demand, told their representatives that they were being instigated by the Congress for electoral gains in view of the upcoming Gujarat state assembly elections scheduled for December.
Farmers' representatives belonging to several non-political organizations, including the Khedut Samaj Gujarat and the OBC-Dalit Ekta Manch, met Patel, who had called them to Sachivalaya on Tuesday.
Deepsinh Thakore, who was one of the leading participants, said, "The deputy chief minister used abusive language for our leaders, telling us that we were being misguided by them, calling them all Congress agents. He went so far as to use casteist language."
While top leaders of the two organizations, Sagar Rabari and Alpesh Thakore, did not go to meet the deputy chief minister, representatives of farmers belonging to individual villages, including sarpanches, some of them belonging to the BJP, were called to discuss the tangled issue, agitating them for the last few years.
A letter handed over by the farmers' representatives to the deputy chief minister, addressed to chief minister Vijay Rupani, said that despite the lapse of eight years, the Gujarat government has done "nothing" for the urban development of the region, even as taking away the farmers' right over their land.
"Even the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA) has recognised that till 2021, looking to the density of population of the area, just about 84 sq km area would be needed for urban development. Hence it is difficult to understand as to why the state government wants to transfer 566.35 sq km of farmers' land for urban development", the letter reads.
Talking with newsperons, Sagar Rabari said, "Under the 2009 notification, the farmers would have to part with 40% of their agricultural land for urban development. Further, 90% of the common village land would would be reserved for AUDA."
He added, "Worse, farmers have been deprived of freely selling their land for non-agricultural purposes. These restrictions have made farmers angry. They have decided to take out a tractor rally to Gandhinagar on September 8 starting from the outskirts of Ahmedabad. We have sought permission, but the rally will be held, even if the permission is not given."
Alpesh Thakore, about whom rumours have been floating around that he may join BJP, said, "We will not tolerate the abusive language used by the deputy chief minister. He must apologize for this. It seems he is frustrated, he wouldn't win from his constituency during the coming polls. We hope the chief minister takes a more balanced view."
Asked whether he was planning to join BJP, Thakore, who claims to have considerable following among the numerically strong OBC Thakore community, said, "Lots of rumours are floating around. My doors are open. You will get an answer to this question shortly."

Comments

Dalit rights and political tensions: Why is Mevani at odds with Congress leadership?

While I have known Jignesh Mevani, one of the dozen-odd Congress MLAs from Gujarat, ever since my Gandhinagar days—when he was a young activist aligned with well-known human rights lawyer Mukul Sinha’s organisation, Jan Sangharsh Manch—he became famous following the July 2016 Una Dalit atrocity, in which seven members of a family were brutally assaulted by self-proclaimed cow vigilantes while skinning a dead cow, a traditional occupation among Dalits.

Powering pollution, heating homes: Why are Delhi residents opposing incineration-based waste management

While going through the 50-odd-page report Burning Waste, Warming Cities? Waste-to-Energy (WTE) Incineration and Urban Heat in Delhi , authored by Chythenyen Devika Kulasekaran of the well-known advocacy group Centre for Financial Accountability, I came across a reference to Sukhdev Vihar — a place where I lived for almost a decade before moving to Moscow in 1986 as the foreign correspondent of the daily Patriot and weekly Link .

Boeing 787 under scrutiny again after Ahmedabad crash: Whistleblower warnings resurface

A heart-wrenching tragedy has taken place in Ahmedabad. As widely reported, a Boeing 787 Dreamliner plane crashed shortly after taking off from the city’s airport, currently operated by India’s top tycoon, Gautam Adani. The aircraft was carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members. As expected, the crash has led to an outpouring of grief across the country. At the same time, there have been demands for the resignation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and the Civil Aviation Minister.

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."

Global NGO slams India for media clampdown during conflict, downplays Pakistan

A global civil rights group, Civicus has taken strong exception to how critical commentaries during the “recent conflict” with Pakistan were censored in India, with journalists getting “targeted”. I have no quarrel with the Civicus view, as the facts mentioned in it are all true.

Whither SCOPE? Twelve years on, Gujarat’s official English remains frozen in time

While writing my previous blog on how and why Narendra Modi went out of his way to promote English when he was Gujarat chief minister — despite opposition from people in the Sangh Parivar — I came across an interesting write-up by Aakar Patel, a well-known name among journalists and civil society circles.

Remembering Vijay Rupani: A quiet BJP leader who listened beyond party lines

Late evening on June 12, a senior sociologist of Indian origin, who lives in Vienna, asked me a pointed question: Of the 241 persons who died as a result of the devastating plane crash in Ahmedabad the other day, did I know anyone? I had no hesitation in telling her: former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, whom I described to her as "one of the more sensible persons in the BJP leadership."

Why India’s renewable energy sector struggles under 2,735 compliance hurdles

Recently, during a conversation with an industry representative, I was told how easy it is to set up a startup in Singapore compared to India. This gentleman, who had recently visited Singapore, explained that one of the key reasons Indians living in the Southeast Asian nation prefer establishing startups there is because the government is “extremely supportive” when it comes to obtaining clearances. “They don’t want to shift operations to India due to the large number of bureaucratic hurdles,” he remarked.

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.

Search This Blog