For over fifteen years, the villages of Dholka taluka in Ahmedabad district have been living with a slow-moving catastrophe. Untreated municipal sewage and chemical-laden effluent from nearby industrial units have been discharged into open drains, seeping into groundwater and poisoning the borewells that residents depend on for drinking water. What began as an environmental grievance has now escalated into a public health emergency, with villagers claiming that 54 people have died of cancer over the past seven years in five villages—Bhetavada, Trasad, Nesda, Paldi and Ambareli—including 21 deaths in Bhetavada alone.
The crisis traces back to the discharge of sewage water from Dholka Nagar Palika, which, according to the environmental group Paryavaran Mitra, has been released untreated for years, damaging village ponds and contaminating agricultural lands. The group's letter to the Chief Minister, written by Director Mahesh Pandya, notes that a Public Interest Litigation was filed in the Gujarat High Court in 2018 by Naranbhai Patel, and that on September 30, 2025, the High Court issued contempt notices to four IAS officers and the Dholka Nagar Palika administrator for non-compliance with court orders. Despite this, the letter states, no results have been achieved, and villagers have been on a hunger strike for fifteen days. The letter also points to an earlier High Court judgment in Special Civil Application No. 9699/2008, which established a committee chaired by the Ahmedabad District Collector to assess damage and determine compensation—a mechanism that, according to the letter, remains unimplemented.
The letter states that sewage water is found in the water bodies of Trasad, Bhetavada, and Nesda, and that this polluted water is also released into canals, causing contaminated water to seep into agricultural lands and residential areas. The letter emphasizes that this continuous pollution poses serious health risks and environmental damage, and has severely damaged the rose cultivation for which Bhetavada was once famous. The human toll is staggering. Fourteen-year-old Akshay Navganbhai, a Class 9 student from Bhetavada, lost his father and grandmother to cancer; his uncle has undergone cancer surgery. His father died just a month before the protest began. Thirty-two-year-old Harshad Makwana is battling oesophageal cancer after spending around Rs 10 lakh on treatment; his elder brother and mother also died of the disease, with roughly Rs 15 lakh spent on his brother's care before his death. Nareshbhai's father, Bhagwan Makwana, developed oral cancer and underwent surgery costing Rs 5 lakh; two months later, his mother, Vilas Makwana, was diagnosed with a stomach tumour and required another Rs 4 lakh in treatment. The family sold jewellery and mortgaged farmland to cover the costs.
According to villagers, the contamination stems from five factories operating in the vicinity that release chemical-laden water into the same drain that carries municipal wastewater. They allege that the discharge stopped only after the protest began, and that factories sometimes released the water under cover of darkness. A drain carrying this contaminated water passes near a government school in Bhetavada, and parents claim that polluted water has appeared in the school's borewell. School attendance has collapsed from 450 students to just 50, as families refuse to send their children into what they believe is a hazardous environment.
The health consequences extend beyond cancer. Dr Dhyey Parmar of the Ambuja Foundation health centre in Bhetavada has reported that many patients seek treatment for skin conditions, which can be caused by exposure to pesticides or chemicals, though he cautioned that this alone does not establish a causal link to the water contamination. Ahmedabad Chief District Health Officer Dr Rajnikant Kapadia acknowledged that the cause of the cancer cases requires investigation. A health camp organized at Bhetavada with specialists from Ahmedabad Civil Hospital screened 175 beneficiaries, and officials stated that 34 cancer patients are currently under treatment across the five villages.
Local authorities served notices to five industrial units—Cadila Pharmaceuticals, Concord Biotech, Jima Tex, Dharamchand Ultra Chem, and Vasa Pharma—demanding compliance documentation and warning of legal action under environmental statutes. The district collector visited the area, and a health team distributed medicines for skin ailments, but villagers say no concrete, lasting solution has emerged. The Gujarat Pollution Control Board has collected water samples, but protesters claim earlier reports repeatedly showed "NIL" contamination, a finding they reject as inconsistent with what they see and smell in their water. A 2021 report stated that the Gujarat High Court sought responses from five industrial units near Dholka regarding the restoration of a lake near Bhetavada, and the Gujarat Pollution Control Board reported that only 70% of Dholka's sewage is treated, with 30% of waste water discharged directly. The court also directed uninterrupted power supply to the treatment plant, which suffers from frequent power failures.
The protest, which began in late August, has drawn support from political figures across party lines. MP Geniben Thakor visited the protest site and warned that if the system does not respond, the agitation will intensify, threatening that if no solution is found within 24 hours, the Dholka Nagar Palika would be locked down. Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani visited on the 21st day of the protest and called for a complete Dholka bandh on the 24th, claiming that over 20,000 people across five villages are affected by the pollution. Aam Aadmi Party state president Isudan Gadhvi also joined the villagers, stating that the government's planning has failed and that the souls of Mahatma Gandhi and other freedom fighters would be pained to see citizens suffering in this manner. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge weighed in nationally, citing the Dholka deaths while attacking the Gujarat government over a CAG report that found nearly 89 per cent of water samples in select villages were unfit for consumption.
The Paryavaran Mitra letter notes that most municipalities in Gujarat lack functional sewage treatment plants, and that where such plants exist, they often do not operate. This, the group argues, has caused severe damage to ponds, rivers and groundwater across the state, with direct consequences for health and agriculture. The letter calls for immediate intervention at the Chief Minister's level, and offers the organisation's cooperation wherever needed. It also demands that the committee constituted under the 2011 High Court judgment conduct site visits, assess damages as per the court's directives, and pay compensation—including to families of those who died of cancer—while conducting an immediate health study of the affected area. A copy of the letter was sent to the District Collector of Ahmedabad.
As the protest continues, the residents of Bhetavada and its neighbouring villages are left with a simple demand that has gone unmet for fifteen years: that the water flowing into their fields, their wells, and their children's school be made safe. Whether the state government will finally act on the High Court's directives, or whether the agitation will escalate further, remains an open question. What is no longer in doubt is the toll already exacted: lives lost, families bankrupted, farmland ruined, and a community that has been forced to trade its faith in the system for a place on the protest line.
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