Anti-Nirma stir: Now,former Congress minister backs Kalsariya

State Youth Congress has made arrangement of buses to transport people to the meet from Ahmedabad. Over a lakh people are expected to attend the meeting with the Youth Congress mobilising its cadres from the coastal areas of Saurashtra to make it a grand success,particularly in view of the coming municipal and panchayat elections.

Mehta said the main reason behind the state government acquiring farmers’ land against their will was the faulty land acquisition policy,which gave powers to the government to acquire any land for public purposes. Pointing out that the states were ignoring the interests of poor farmers and villagers at the cost of industrial and corporate houses,he said,“Would any state government show courage to acquire the Mahuva land if it belonged to powerful people or industrial houses?”

Quoting a survey report,Mehta said Dholera,Dandi and Aliabet had become unfit for human habitation owing to salinity ingress.

“Why does not the government allot the land in these areas to industries instead of handing over large tracts of agriculturally rich land in places like Mahuva?” he said.

Dr Kalsariya,who was also present at the press conference,said the Nirma group even tried to misguide the Gujarat High Court by presenting wrong facts on the issue and get a favourable judgment. He added that the allotment of 268 hectares,including 100 acres covering water bodies,was not the main issue,but the 4,500 hectares allotted for mining of limestone used as raw material for cement manufacturing.

He said that limestone mining along the coastal belt of Mahuva would turn the underground watertable brackish in the entire belt,thus damaging the agriculture and environment.

He said this was the main reason that the locals locked horns with Nirma and the government. “If you want to drive out Nirma,you have to drive out the BJP first,” Dr Kalsariya said.

Nirma claims to have spent Rs 109 crore so far on construction activities for its plant.