Demolition Drive Continues: On Day 2, Rajkot civic body demolishes 367 more structures

However, herein lies the tricky part of the operation. These 23 properties are located adjacent to another 900-odd properties that were also to be demolished but that action has been stayed by the Gujarat High Court, leaving the RMC with the very precarious work of surgically demolishing these two-dozen odd properties while making sure that there is no damage to the properties under protection of the judiciary.

Rajkot Municipal Commissioner Tushar Sumera told The Indian Express, “There are now only 23 properties left to be demolished. This will be carried out carefully as these structures are adjoining about 900 properties which are on land under the jurisdiction of the Collectorate and on which there is a stay order.”

Speaking about the demolitions from Gandhinagar, MLA Amit Chavda, President of the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee, said, “The face of the BJP’s double engine sarkar has been exposed once more. This is a government that is razing the homes of the poor with bulldozers but is helpless against industrialists. In reply to the question regarding land encroachment, the government has said that in Hazira, the Arcelor Mittal Steel India company has encroached upon 173 hectares of government land. And this is not the first time, the government puts in on record year after year that this company has encroached on some land for the last 38 years, on others for 36 years, 33 years and 20 years. The government admits this but is unable to vacate it. The bulldozer doesn’t move there.”

He added, “But in Rajkot, yesterday bulldozers ran over the homes of the poor, and before that, on the homes of the Thakore, Rabari, Dalit, OBC, minority communities in Ahmedabad. Bulldozers are razing in Ambaji, Somnath, Veraval, in Dwarka, in the temples, on people’s homes, but this double engine sarkar does not have the courage to set it’s bulldozers on the 30-year-old illegal encroachment of one company.”

Chavda added, “This government says Sab ka saath, sab ka vikas, but after getting sab ka saath (support), their helplessness against these corporates shows that this government is against the poor and is helpless before industrialists. It is clear that Sab ka saath, sab ka vikas is just a slogan.”

The Rajkot city administration plans to build an Aji Riverfront along the lines of the Sabarmati riverfront in Ahmedabad but the stated goal for the demolitions is to avoid flooding in this area by removing encroachments and allowing the flow of rainwater.