In a major first for the state,rural Gujarat is witnessing a wide uprising against the state government move to handover agricultural and grazing lands to big industrial houses. Agitators in six places in the state under the banner of Gandhian Chuni Vaidyas Gujarat Lok Samiti (GLS),have joined hands with the cry of Jaan Denge,Zamin Nahin (We will give up our lives,not our lands). GLS said that if need be a huge public march from Mahuva to Gandhinagar will be organised to create public awareness on the issue of grazing and agricultural land allotment to industries,at the cost of farmers interest. The agitation is presently on in Mahuva taluka of Bhavnagar; in Vadodara Jala village of Sutrapada taluka in Junagadh district; in Mocha village of Porbandar district; in Anwarpura village of Sami taluka of Patan district; in Umargaon taluka of Valsad district; and in Zarpara village of Mundra taluka. The entire Vadodara Jala village is protesting against the recent case of 650 acres of village gauchar (land used for grazing of animals),which was acquired by the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB),Veraval,to be transferred to L&T Port Sutrapada Pvt Ltd,for constructing a private port. The work was stopped after the gram panchayat passed a resolution condemning it. Dilipsinh Jhala,convenor of the village-level Sangharsh Samiti,had earlier told Newsline,As of now,the company has the possession on paper,but the villagers continue to stall the work. The state government had issued a Government Resolution (GR) mentioning the requirement of 40 acres of gauchar for every 100 animals. Now,the village in question has the animal population of 6,060,making the required gauchar to be about 2,424 acres. Why the government decided to sell the only remaining 650 acres,leaving nothing for grazing,is beyond comprehension, said Chuni Vaidya. Hitendra Solanki,Project Manager,L&T,said he is not authorised to say anything,while C J Rawal,Executive Engineer (Privatisation Cell),GMB,refused to comment. Vaidya added,Similar is the case of Mahuva where local BJP legislator Kanu Kalsariya is leading a popular agitation against the governments decision to allot a cement factory project to Nirma,which will completely uproot nearly 15 villages altogether. In Kutch,agitation began after 400 hectares of gauchar land from 14 villages in and around Mundra port was transferred to the Adani Group. The Zarpara village,which is inhabited by the Charan caste,which has traditionally been into cattle-rearing,protested against the allotment of 1,000 acres of the villages grazing land to the Adanis. In Patan district,people of Anwarpura village in Sami taluka stalled the proposed plan by the state-owned Gujarat State Fertilisers & Chemicals Limited (GSFC) to grow Jatropha plant (used for producing bio-diesel) on the 132 acres of gauchar land in the village. GSFC had earlier rejected the proposal by the Anwarpura gram panchayat to distribute land among the landless farmers in the village and cultivate Jatropha in partnership with the company. Hari Patel,Managing Director,GSFC,who had ordered the suspension of work pending negotiations with villagers,was not available for comment on the issue. In Mocha village of Porbandar,the people are up against the mining bigwigs,as they take over limestone deposits standing on villages grazing land. Naga Parmar,the deputy sarpanch of Mocha gram panchayat said,Even though we have been protesting,nothing has been done yet and mining is going on unabated,leading to environmental imbalance and salinity ingress.
