False report sparks rush for ‘cheap houses’ in Gujarat

A woman from Lakhudi Talawdi in Naranpura area said her neighbour,a poor woman,lost her only son in a freak mishap while crossing the road to reach the board office.

The Naranpura police cordoned off the area and asked the people to go back. When they did not budge,the police resorted to lathi-charge,leaving a few injured. A case of assault was also registered at the Naranpura police station.

GHB chairman Jayanti Barot rushed to the board office and expressed regret over the people having to face inconvenience due to rumours. “This (spreading rumours) seems to be the handiwork of some political party to tarnish our image,” he said.

Apparently,a local paper had reported that the GHB would be distributing the forms on Monday. Barot dismissed the report,saying applications forms were yet to be printed.

Barot said he would issue advertisements in newspapers declaring the date from which application forms would be distributed.

Meanwhile,the Congress condemned the police action. Opposition leader Shaktisinh Gohil said the chief minister should apologise to the people for the “cruel joke” played on them.

In Vadodara,nearly 500 people thronged the GHB office and stormed the office of Chief Engineer V P Vankar demanding forms for houses.

The chief engineer said the crowd had become unruly but did not resort to violence. He said police were called as a precautionary measure.