Dalit families protest over residential plots

The Dalits demanding land are listed as residents of Bhagapura village, which was part of a group village panchayat. In 2011, Gitapura was hived off as a separate village with a panchayat of its own and Bhagapura was another village panchayat.

A few years back, the protesting families shifted to the current disputed site in Gitapura and started living there. The five Dalit families claim that in 2013, Bhagapura gram panchayat had passed a resolution to give them plots in the geographical part which is now Gitapura.

However, the revenue survey numbers of the two villages remained together and their separation was done only in 2015 as per which the disputed site where the Dalit families have been living came under the jurisdiction of Gitapura village. And, now, the authorities of Gitapura village are calling the Dalits’ settlement “an encroachment” and want them to be evicted from their village as they are technically residents of Bhagapura and not Gitapura.

Jagdish Parmar, one of the protesting Dalits, said, “We have been living here for years. Bhagapura village panchayat passed a resolution to give us plots here. And it was passed when the revenue records of the two villages were not separated.”

He says, “The Patidar-dominated Gitapura village authorities are harassing us. They do not allow us to get water and electricity connections. Our women have to walk for long distance to fetch water and we do our chores lighting lamps in our homes after sunset.”

Dalit youth leader and Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani met the protesting Dalits at Detroj mamlatdar office on Thursday night. Mevani-led Rashtriya Dalit Adhikar Manch (RDAM) handed over a memorandum to Ahmedabad Collectorate, seeking resolution of the Dalits’ demand, on Friday. One of the conveners of RDAM, Kaushik Parmar, said, “In case the issue is not resolved soon, we will protest outside Gujarat Assembly on January 23.” The newly elected Gujarat Assembly is to convene for the first time that day when the MLAs will take oath.

Jagdish’s wife, Pushpa, is the sarpanch of Bhagapura village. Jagdish said, “My wife is the sarpanch of Bhagapura as we have identity proofs of that village only. It was a reserved seat for woman sarpanch and so she contested and won. But that does not mean that we cannot have residential plot here (Gitapura).”

On the other hand, the sarpanch of Gitapura gram panchayat, Ramesh Patel, said, “They are from Bhagapura and not Gitapura. They have encroached upon our village land. The resolution giving them plots in Gitapura village was passed by Bhagapura village panchayat which is not acceptable to us. And we got that resolution cancelled from the Taluka Development Officer (TDO).” The Dalits have claimed they had no knowledge of this cancellation.

Jagdish said, “We learnt of the the reported cancellation order of the earlier (Bhagapura group panchayat) by the TDO only 2-3 days back. If such an order is passed, we have not been heard at all…Above all, the government helps migrants from other states, like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar etc. in getting residence. And we are Indians from this region. We are not from Pakistan and yet we are struggling to get a plot of land for which we are ready to even pay.”

Meanwhile, Detroj Mamlatdar Shalini Duhan, said, “This is a case of division of villages having peculiar facts. We have held full-fledged meetings with the parties a number of times. However, both the parties have remained adamant. On the one hand, Dalits have sat on protest. Whereas the villagers of Gitapura say that if the Dalits are not evicted in 10 days, they will also sit on protest. And the issue can be resolved by the higher authorities. So, I have apprised my superiors and they will take a call on the issue after studying it.”

Interestingly, one of the protesting Dalits, Reviben (50), has claimed she is the cousin of Karshan Solanki, sitting BJP MLA from Kadi. “We represented our case to him (Solanki) many times. But nothing has happened so far.” Solanki visited the Dalits at the mamlatdar office on Friday.

Later, speaking with The Indian Express, Solanki refuted Reviben’s claim. “She is not my cousin.” Solanki did not speak on other issues related to the matter. Reviben, on the other hand, said, “He is lying. He is my cousin. My mother – Santokben – and his mother – Gangaben – are real sisters.”