Kalsaria denied permission to raise security issue

When Dr Kalsaria stood up and sought permission to raise the issue during Zero Hour,Assembly Speaker Ashok Bhatt said he had not sought prior approval in accordance with the rules of the House.

At this,Dr Kalsaria walked to the Well of the House requesting the Speaker to allow him to speak on the issue. He was,however,removed from the House by marshals on Bhatt’s instructions.

The ruling party legislators kept silence silent on the issue,but Dr Kalsaria received support from the Opposition Congress and the NCP members who demanded that he be allowed to raise the issue.

Dr Kalsaria then walked to the office of Chief Minister Narendra Modi in the Assembly building and requested the CM to meet a delegation of over two dozen farmers who were to be hit by the land acquisition process for the cement plant. But Modi met only Dr Kalsaria and his wife and asked state Industry Minister Saurabh Patel to attend to the delegation and listen to their point of view.

During the brief meeting with Modi,Dr Kalsaria raised the issue of threat to his life. He also submitted a memorandum to the CM explaining why the land allotment to the cement plant should be cancelled.

In the memorandum,Dr Kalsaria said that about 5,000 farmers with 30,000 of their family members will lose their livelihood if the 222 hectares of land,including water bodies,is allotted to the cement plant which will create only 418 jobs. A total of 268 hectares is being allotted to the cement company.

Modi,according to Dr Kalsaria,assured full security to him and his family,but was non-committal on the issue of land acquisition. Dr Kalsaria was provided round-the-clock armed security after the attack on him a week ago.

A total of 25 farmers accompanied by 92-year-old Gandhian Chunibhai Vaidya,who were initially detained by the police outside the state Secretariat and prevented from marching to the Assembly,were later escorted to the office of state Industry Minister Saurabh Patel in groups of five. They told him about the security threat and the material loss they would face if the decision to allot land to the industrial group is not reversed.

When questioned by media persons,Dr Kalsaria said that after his detention outside the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad on Thursday,he had called Assembly Speaker Ashok Bhatt,Minister of State for Home Amit Shah and even DGP S S Khandwawala to get him released to enable him to attend the Assembly Session.

“Farmers could have been detained,but,as an MLA I could have been released for attending the Assembly session.” said Dr Kalsaria. “But no one including the Assembly speaker helped me,” he added.

Asked if he would seek time to raise the issue in the House as per the procedures,Dr Kalsaria said: “I am sure that I will not get the permission to raise the issue in the House. I am not bothered about my security as it is in the hands of God but the real question is the farmers’ interest.”

He added: “The government is not ready to hold discussions on the issue…the state government appears to be completely on the side of the cement company,ignoring the interest of 5,000 farmers and the 30,000 people dependent on them.”

Asked about his future course of action if the state government did not reverse its decision on the land issue,the BJP legislator said,“I will start a non-violent agitation and continue it till the desired goal is achieved.”