In Gujarat, villagers won’t buy ration from Dalit’s shop, collector transfers all cards to nearby village

The order comes after majority of the ration card holders in the village – Kanosan is dominated by the Thakor community (non-Dalits) – had around one-and-a-half years ago stopped buying their monthly ration from the FPS run by Kanti Parmar, a Dalit.

Kanosan is one of the Samras villages of Gujarat. Under the Samras scheme of the state government, villagers choose their ward members and sarpanch with consensus and do not go for polls. Such villages get special incentives from the state. A Samras status also indicates “social harmony” in a village.

Among other allegations, the Thakors have accused Kanti of threatening to get them booked in false cases under the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocity) Act – commonly known as Atrocity Act. Kanti and his family have refuted the allegations and are now considering to challenge the collector’s order in court.

The collector’s order has mentioned the representation by Kanosan residents, who have said that they had stopped buying monthly ration from Kanti’s FPS around one-and-a-half-years ago and had been instead purchasing the same from shops in neighbouring Edla, Vagdod and Nayta villages. According to the order, they have alleged that were not receiving grains on time, the correct quantity of ration fixed by the government during Covid-19 pandemic was not being distributed and Kanti used to threaten them of getting them booked under the Atrocity Act.

The district administration recorded the statements of 268 residents of Kanosan. Among them, 260 expressed willingness to buy ration from neighbouring FPS. Eight residents expressed willingness to get their ration from Kanti’s FPS.

The order also recorded that the mamlatdar of Saraswati tehsil organised a meeting of Kanosan residents this March, in which around 300 ration card holders expressed unwillingness to get ration from Kanti’s FPS and demanded that they be allowed to buy ration from another village.

As per the collector’s order, Kanti’s FPS has recorded a gradual decrease in distribution of ration. It distributed 36.84 per cent, 30.14 per cent, 9.18 per cent and 8.18 per cent ration in March, April, May and June this year, respectively, the order said.

The collector has ordered that all the ration cards of Kanosan residents will be transferred to the FPS run by Visabhai Rabari in Edla village – about 1.5 km from Kanosan. He has also ordered that Rabari will have to ensure that the residents get their ration in Kanosan itself.

The order has also recorded Kanti’s version, in which he has refuted the allegations against him.

In Kanosan, which has a population of around 2,200, more than 90 per cent of the residents are Thakors.

According to Kanti, the conflict began around two years ago when he denied ration to a Thakor. “Around two-three years ago, one of the Thakor leaders of the village came to buy ration from my shop. However, as his card was not eligible, I denied him ration. Since then, he and other leaders of the community have been running a campaign against me, urging or threatening other members of their community to boycott my shop,” Kanti told The Indian Express.

“They justify the boycott saying that I have filed false complaints against them under the atrocity Act. This is not true. I have been running this shop for the last 30 years, but they have found faults with me only in the last two-three years,” he said.

Kanti said that there have been some atrocities against Dalits in the village and that he and some others had filed around five-six complaints against the Thakors. “But barring one, we have struck a compromise in all other cases, with the intervention of some leaders,” he added.

Kanti said that the one complaint that still stands is in connection to him attempting suicide in May at a public park in Patan town by ingesting a poisonous substance. He survived, but his left leg had to be amputated, due to the effect of the poison, he added.

Following this, Kanti’s son Mukesh had filed a police complaint against four persons from the Thakor community, accusing them of pushing his father to attempt suicide by urging villagers to boycott his shop. He also accused the four of making false representations against Kanti to get the licence of his shop cancelled.

The four men – Prakashji Thakor, Genaji Thakor, Lakhaji Thakor and Jaktaji Thakor – were subsequently arrested, and later released on bail by a sessions court in Patan.

The Thakors, meanwhile, accused Kanti of getting them booked in false cases under the Atrocity Act. Kamraji Thakor (45), who runs a flour mill in the village, said: “I stopped buying from his (Kanti’s) shop for the last two years. They (Kanti and his family members) have been filing police complaints against us (Thakors) and one of the elderly women of my family went to jail for one month… His (Kanti’s) behaviour has also not been proper.”

Popatji Thakor, another villager, said, “He (Kanti) does conspiracy and gets us jailed. In one of the cases, I, too, had to stay in jail for eight days. We are not going to his shop.”

Kanosan Sarpanch Raghu Thakor said, “There were complaints from villagers that they were not getting ration in proper quantity. Also, there were complaints of him (Kanti) fixing people in false cases under Atrocity Act. Therefore, we had demanded to transfer the ration cards from his (Kanti’s) FPS to a nearby village.”

Raghu’s grandfather, Jaktaji Thakor, is one of the accused in the case lodged on the basis of Mukesh’s complaint filed in May. Jaktaji is also the former sarpanch of Kanosan.

Patan Collector Arvind Vijayan said that the order was passed following internal inquiry and opposition from the villagers. He added that for more details, the district supply officer (DSO) should be approached.

When contacted, Patan DSO D S Ninama said, “We got (the matter) inquired upon by the mamlatdar. The villagers have said in their statements that they are not getting sufficient ration (from the FPS) and also getting threats. On the basis of those statements, the collector has passed the order.”

Ninama added that the collector has passed the order after hearing both the sides.

Asked if the license of Kanti’s shop will be cancelled, Ninama said, “He will be given a hearing. The collector will hear him and then take a decision… (Before) cancellation of his license, he will be given enough opportunity (to present his side) and then a decision will be taken.”

Kanti, meanwhile, said, “May be we will approach the court, my sons are saying so.” He has three sons.

Mukesh, who works as Kanti’s assistant at the FPS, said, “There is no other option but to approach the court. With transfer of all the ration cards to Edla, our shop will be closed down. Our ration card has also been transferred to Edla. If there is no card attached to our shop then our license will be cancelled. We will have no means of livelihood.”

Mukesh’s wife Rekha is a member of the Kanosan Gram Panchayat. “In December 2021, our village became a Samras village, We supported them (the Thakors) by not putting any candidate against them. Betrayal is what we got as reward,” he said.