Damayantee Dhar | SabrangIndia

Gujarat Farmers Barred From Entering Own Land as GPCL Mines Lignite Under Police Protection

Wed, 06 Mar 2019 05:52:24 +0000

On April 2, 2018, Gujarat government acquired about 200 hectares of land in Badi and Thordi villages of Ghogha, Bhavnagar.

Board at the land of a farmer in Badi says “no entry without permission”

Vasudev Gohil, a farmer from Badi village of Ghogha taluka in Bhavnagar district has not had any income since April 2018. Gohil and his three brothers once owned six hectares of land that sustained a family of 18. On April 2, 2018, Gujarat government acquired about 200 hectares of land in Badi and Thordi villages of Ghogha, Bhavnagar. Gohil was one of the 170 farmers to lose land that day.

“On April 1 last year, about 3,000 police personnel rounded up the protesting farmers, lobbed tear gas, lathi charged, and detained about 100, farmers who were identified as the ones leading the protest. In the evening, the deputy collector and police officer of inspector general rank visited the farmers who were not detained. The two of them assured that they will come back with the contractor of the company and initiate talks with us the next day. When all the farmers had left for their homes, late in the night, the government acquired about 200 hectares of land in Badi and Thordi villages, and planted the mining equipment,” Vasudev Gohil told Newsclick.

Vasudev Gohil, one of the farmers who have lost land

“Neither the collector, police officer nor the contractor have come to meet the farmers since then. Mining began in May 2018 under police protection,” he added.

Notably, between 1993 and 1994, 3,377 acres of land from 12 villages of Ghogha taluka in Bhavnagar was acquired by the Gujarat government. The land that included farm land, grazing land and waste land, apart from agricultural land was acquired with the purpose of establishing a thermal power plant, construct a colony, and have an area for dumping ash, and mine lignite.

Subsequently, consent was taken from the concerned villagers in the year 1997. However, Gujarat government did not make any attempt to take possession of the land until December 2017. Reportedly, the fact that the thermal power plant in the area was commissioned in 2017, and not in the year 2000, as originally planned, is the reason for initiating the process of possession. The lignite mined from the land is to be used as raw material in the thermal plant.

“My family owned eight hectares, out which five hectares have been taken. Three hectares of land was spared, as it is Rajupara village,” says Kanaksinh Gohil, another farmer who lost his land in the Badi village.

“Fifteen hectares of land owned by my family is gone. We are left with 3.5 hectares of land, which will not give our family enough income to sustain. Some of us have started looking for the job of a labourer,” shares Dineshbhai Ahir, the deputy sarpanch of Badi village.

“They took away 20 hectares, leaving just two hectares. They have police protection, and fences around my land. I am barred from entering,” said Jivrajbhai Kantaria, another farmer who lost his land.

“My brother has already begun working as a labourer in a power plant located in the neighbouring Padwa village. He works as a tractor driver, and earns Rs 200 a day. But it is not a month-long job, and fetches about Rs 8,000 or 9,000 a month,” says Vasudev Gohil, one of the farmers who has been leading the protest.

Since February 2017, Badi and its neighbouring 11 villages in Saurashtra region of the state – where the primary source of livelihood is farming – have been opposing the process of possession of land by Gujarat Power Corporation Limited (GPCL). As the villagers protested on the ground, a petition was also filed in Gujarat High Court. Responding to the resistance of farmers, Bhavnagar police have been rounding up the villagers, and have camped in the agriculture land for months. Eventually, on April 1, 2018, assembly of more than three people at a place was banned in the 12 villages.

“The notification stated that the state of emergency will continue till April 16, 2019. Our social lives have been disturbed owing to this. We now have to inform the local police and take permission for our personal gathering like weddings or religious gatherings. Last year, they did not give us permission for Ganapati puja,” shares Ghanshyam Sinh Jadeja, a farmer.

“Our relatives from other villages or districts are hesitant to visit us now,” he adds.

In May 2018, fearing that their land will be taken away from them, 5,229 farmers of 12 villages pleaded for mass euthanasia in a letter written to the President.

Kanaksinh Gohil, one of the farmers who have lost land

“Ever since the process of land possession has begun, we have been dealing regularly with the police swarming our villages. Our lives have been turned upside down. We have approached Bhavnagar police and district administration multiple times requesting them to take the police off our villages, and revoke the state of emergency. But each time, we have been told that the police presence and state of emergency will prevail till officials of the GPCL and its contractors working at the mining site feel unsafe and seek protection,” said Kanaksinh.

In accordance with the petition filed by the farmers in the High Court of Gujarat, the villagers were offered Rs 48,000 per hectare for jirayat (non-irrigated) land and Rs 72,000 per hectare for bagayat (irrigated) land.

In 1993-94, the Gujarat government had issued a notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894, declaring its intension to acquire the said land. Within a period of a year, in 1994-95, the state government issued a notification under Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act after which the concerned owner cannot sell the land to any other party.

The consent accord was passed in 1997 based on an agreement signed by the farmers from these 12 villages, a representative of GPCL, and a special land acquisition officer. Following this, the paper of possession was taken over the land the farmers of en masse in the office of the accountant in Badi village. The money was distributed in the next one week.

“For 22 years, the state government did not take possession of the land. We have been farming for all these years which has improved the quality of the soil. All the 12 villages have fertile three-crop land unlike usually arid Saurashtra,” says Vasudev Gohil.

“We had income of about Rs 15 lakh per annum from the crops we grew. Now we are in financial crunch, and may have to work as labourers to sustain our family. This state has turned us into daily wage earners, even though we owned land,” Kanaksinh says.

Courtesy: News Click

The post Gujarat Farmers Barred From Entering Own Land as GPCL Mines Lignite Under Police Protection appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Tribal Protests, Black Balloons Cloud Modi’s Unveiling of ‘Statue of Unity’

Thu, 01 Nov 2018 05:39:03 +0000

Activists, villagers detained as PM inaugurates world’s ‘tallest’ statue in a Gujarat district that does not have hospital, schools.

Narmada district was formed in 1997 out of Dediyapada, Nandod and Saghbara talukas carved out of Bharuch district and Tilakwada taluka carved out of Vadodara district. With tribals dominating about 85% of the population of the district, it is by far one of the poorest districts of Gujarat.
Since its formation, the district has had no government hospital with modern amenities and intensive care unit facility. Severe cases of illness or accidents are referred to Vadodara, a district about 90 kilometres away from Narmada. Reportedly, the only blood bank of the district was formed two years ago.

Picture the contrast when the 182-feet tall Sardar Patel statue named ‘Statue of Unity’, touted to be the ‘tallest’ in the world, was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Kevadiya, about 30 kilometres from Rajpipla, district headquarter of Narmada on October 31. The area was milling with more than 4,000 police personnel with one Additional Director General of Police, one Inspector General, five Superintendents of Police and more than 30 Deputy Superintendent of Police, as thousands of tribals protested throughout the district.

“A district where tribals worry about the availability of ambulance on the right time because there is no proper road has been chosen to be the location for Rs 3,000 crore project. Tribals, whose villages have no roads, are losing their land for construction of the four-lane road to the ‘Statue of Unity’,” Praful Vasava, tribal leader of the district told Newsclick.

“Why is this district not being developed first? Instead, the government is grabbing the tribal land that falls under Schedule Area Act without the permission of gram panchayats,” he added.

Bandh Observed
On Wednesday, while cameras flashed as PM Modi arrived with a battery of VIPs, the Rajpipla market bore a deserted look as shops remained shut observing a bandh as a mark of protest. Black balloons were flown in the air and tyres burnt to generate black smoke as the event unfolded.

“The shopkeepers of the Rajpipla had been threatened by the local police after they put up notices declaring a bandh call on October 31st,” Vasava said.

According to villagers, the police had begun detaining people since the evening of October 30, by brazenly knocking on random doors of tribal homes and picking up people without stating. Ninety activists who had arrived in solidarity with the movement of the tribals have been detained. These included Rohit Prajapati, Nita Mahadev, Mudita Vidrohi, Virji Viradiya, Amar Singh Choudhary, Anand Mazgaonkar and Lakhanbhai. Nita Mahadev and her daughter Mudita were forcibly brought back to Ahmedabad with only male police accompanying them.

Vasava, local tribal leader who had called the bandh and was leading the protest, was detained on October 31 while flashing a placard stating “Narendra Modi go back” written with his blood.

“In all likelihood, the police will be deployed at every household of villages around the statue,” said Lakhanbhai, an activist working amongst the tribals, who was also detained.

Rehabilitation Promises Belied
In all, 72 villages of Narmada district and about 75,000 tribals are affected by ‘Statue of Unity’ project, Sresth Bhawans, valley of flowers and the four-lane road leading uphill to Sadhu Bet, the spot where the project is located in Kevadiya. Displaced villagers from the 19 villages that were originally recognised as ‘project affected’ and promised rehabilitation aid of Rs 5 lakh or a new plot of land, are still waiting with bated breath.

Six villages – Navagam, Kevadiya, Gora, Kothi, Limdi and Waghariya — have not been formally declared as ‘project affected’. However, about 90% of the land of Kevadiya village has been grabbed for widening of the road, land of Navagam and Waghariya is gradually getting submerged as dam water is released and water rises in the weir. In Gora, Kothi and Limdi, about 25% of the land has been unofficially grabbed after offering verbal promises of rehabilitation.

This apart, 28 villages on the bank of the main canal of the Narmada river have not been allowed to use water for their parched land, which most of the tribal farmers are struggling to cultivate in a rain-scarce year.

Rajpipla and markets of neighbouring areas remained closed observing bandh as a mark of protest
“A week ago, tribals of Kevadiya village were lathi-charged and detained and their homes were demolished before they were released,” says Govindbhai, sarpanch of Waghariya village that has lost all its land to the project.

“Some women were injured in the lathi charge. Their land is being taken for Sreshtha Bharat Bhawan,” he added.

Earlier, sarpanchs of 22 gram panchayats in Narmada district had written an open letter to Modi urging him to skip the inauguration ceremony, as he wouldn’t be welcomed in ‘their land’ in Kevadiya colony.

“While the tribals of the district are struggling to avail basic amenities like hospitals, schools and drinking water, you decide to spend crores of money on construction of a statue and additional money again for an inaugural ceremony. With a heavy heart we, the villagers, are telling you that we will not welcome you on our land in our district,” read the letters signed by the sarpanchs.

‘It’s a Fight For Survival’
“We are not against Sardar Patel, we just want our land back or at least proper rehabilitation,” says Ambaben, who had first lost her land when Sardar Sarovar dam was built and remaining land is gradually getting submerged as water fills in the weir of the Narmada.

Tyres were burnt to generate smoke as sign of protest
“Before the dam was built, the land around the villages used to be fertile three-crop land. We never used any fertiliser as floods every year would bring in fertile silt. When the dam was built they took our three-crop land and the promised rehabilitation never arrived. Whatever we cultivated and whatever land remained with our family, where we have already cultivated vegetables, is getting submerged with the crop,” adds 60-year-old Ambaben, former sarpanch of Limdi group gram panchayat.

“The tribals are fighting against the issue for more than 40 years now. It has been easy to fool tribals who are not educated and register a legal case. But now they are fighting back as this is not just a fight for the land but our culture and survival,” adds Lakhanbhai.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

The post Tribal Protests, Black Balloons Cloud Modi’s Unveiling of ‘Statue of Unity’ appeared first on SabrangIndia.

The Tall Price That Gujarat’s Tribals Are Paying for the ‘Tallest’ Statue

Wed, 31 Oct 2018 05:18:47 +0000

Their land gone and facing displacement, tribals in some villages are busy salvaging ready crops after water was released from the dam to beautify the backdrop of the Rs 3,000 crore ‘Statue of Unity’ for VIP eyes.

About 500 metres from the nearly Rs 3,000 crore ‘Statue of Unity’ in Narmada district, stand five huts. One of them is the abode of Ambaben Poonabhai, a 60-year-old woman who was once sarpanch of Limdi group gram panchayat of Limdi and Navagam villages.
Navagam is one of those villages where land will be submerged as water rises in the weir of Narmada river. As the ‘Statue of Unity’ is set to inaugurated on October 31, water from the dam has been released in the weir for the VIPs and guests to witness a river full of water. (A weir is a barrier across the horizontal width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level)

“About 40 acres of land in Navagam will be submerged till October 31. Farmers had cultivated vegetables which are almost ready. Nobody told us that water is being released from the dam. We are witnessing the water level rise by the hour and land submerging gradually,” Ambaben told Newsclick.

“Farmers are frantically working in the fields trying to salvage what they can,” adds Ambaben, who waits along with other tribal residents of Navagam as their land submerges gradually.

“A family owns between 2-4 acres of land. There are poor tribal families who sustain themselves on crops and vegetables they grow on their small patch of land. Now that the land will be submerged, most of them will have no means of feeding themselves or their family,” says Sanjay Tadvi, son of Ambaben, and a resident of Navagam.

The Heavy Price That Tribals Paid for ‘Statue of Unity’

In ruins stands remains of a home of a tribal family of 12, demolished a week back to widen the road to Statue of Unity. Location- Waghariya village, about 1 km from Statue of Unity

The shop that was once by the road side was demolished to widen the road. The land was never formally acquired and demolished as it fell in the way. The owner rebuilt the shop and now fears that shop will submerge any-day when water rises in the weir that flows down as water is being released for inauguration.

Angry tribals tore apart posters in the Narmada district

New posters were put up with picture of Birsa Munda in center and picture of Modi in the corner.

Throat of PM slit in a poster in outskirts of Narmada district still stands

Handwritten notice of bandh on October 31st all across Rajpipla market.

Police deployed to protect posters in Narmada district after local tribals tore the posters

The new road being built for inauguration and then for tourists is part of the project. Three villages have lost their land completely for widening of this road on the hill.

The statue of Unity

This one hut stands, about 500 metres from the statue, while others around it have been demolished. This spot used to be a village once.

“We have already lost a major portion of our land when the road to Sardar Sarovar dam was being built. The Gujarat government promised us 5 acres per family and jobs for whoever is above 18 years of age. But neither were we allotted any piece of land nor did we get any job. We have submitted memorandums and letters to the district authorities to the office of Chief Minister in Gandhinagar, but in vain. After a long silence, they told us, the project missed counting us in the victim list, and assured that our names shall be included when the weir is built. Instead of being rehabilitated, we lost our portion of the remaining land acquired for widening the road to the ‘Statue of Unity’, and remaining shall drown as the water level rises in the weir,” adds Sanjay, who works as a labourer in Kevadiya Colony that fetches him Rs 200 a day.
Six villages – Navagam, Waghariya, Limdi, Kevadiya, Kothi and Gora — immediately around the Sadhu Bet, the location of the ‘Statue of Unity’ are badly affected. Of these, Waghariya has lost all of its land, while Kevadiya village has lost about 90% of land.

Noticeably, villagers of Kevadiya were displaced just a week ago when the road to Sadhu Bet was being widened from two lanes to four lanes. Amidst strong protests, the police lathi-charged indiscriminately injuring even women and detained the villagers for 24 hours. When the villagers returned to the village after their release, every house along the road had been demolished. The residents of Kevadiya have now settled a kilometre away amid a rocky patch of land. Sarojben, who led the protest and a few others are under constant police watch and refused to speak on the issue.

Police Presence Prior to Inauguration
“By the evening of October 30, police personnel will be deployed in front of every household around the villages surrounding Sadhu Bet, barring locals from stepping out of their homes,” Lakhanbhai, an activist working with tribals of the area, told Newsclick.
“This is how the locals are restricted from freely moving in their own land every time a VIP visits the area,” he adds.

“The water pipeline and several handpumps in the area have been demolished while widening the road. Six villages of the area have no means of drinking water. When we approached the district authorities, they turned a blind eye. Later Larsen and Toubro (L&T), the company that is working on the project, arranged for water to be delivered by tankers of its own accord. The tankers deliver water twice a day to those living by the side of the road. But villagers whose houses were demolished and have been pushed away from the road have no access to the tanker water. This has been the situation for a month now,” says Govind Bhai Tadvi, sarpanch of Waghariya village.

“Besides the amount of water that each family is getting through tanker isn’t enough,” he adds.

All the residents of Waghariya have been displaced due to the project of ‘Statue of Unity’. Out of an entire village that had an population of about 1,500, 15 displaced families have been rehabilitated in mud huts in an area with no amenities like electricity or drinking water. The rest of them are being pushed to accept land very far away from their homes.

“Our family was offered a housing plot in Pansoli village near Dabhoi, about 60 kilometres from our house, and the land for cultivation was allotted at Tel Taalav, about 10 kilometres away from the housing plot. How can a farmer travel 10 kilometre to cultivate his field every day?” shares Govindbhai.

“We refused to accept land at such a distance from our original home. Later, we were offered Rs 5 lakh, but we refused that too as the market value of the land my family owns is more than Rs 1 crore,” adds Govindbhai.

“Six acres of land that our family still owns at the bank of the weir will be submerged in two days. I don’t think we can salvage all of the cotton we have cultivated,” he says, pointing towards several sacks of cotton stacked up in his house, the crop that he could salvage so far.

‘We Will Not Leave Our Land’
The villagers resent being dumped to the fringes without being consulted even once.

“The locals were never taken into confidence or told that such a huge scale of tourist place shall be built on and around their homes. The tribals of the area have been losing their land since the inception of the Sardar Sarovar dam. Now they have built such a massive statue, valley of flowers and Bharat Sreshth Bhawan (guest house of every state) is to come up along with it. Does the government ever think on whose land are they building the projects? The locals here solely depend on agriculture. If their land is snatched how will they survive. We will not leave our land,” says Lakhanbhai.

A protest and bandh have been called in the district by Praful Vasava, a local tribal leader. About 100 tribal organisations of 15 tribal-dominated districts of Gujarat have supported the cause. The tribals have been tearing off the posters of the project featuring Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.

Massive police force has been deployed in Narmada district viewing the resistance from the tribals. Noticeably, police personnel have also been deployed to protect the posters.

“About 85% of the population of Narmada district are tribals. The land in the district is protected under the Fifth Cchedule. As per law, if land is to be acquired, the gram sabha has to agree to give it away. But while building the Narmada weir dam or ‘Statue of Unity’, the Gujarat government did not bother to take permission of the gram sabha of respective villages. Land from 13 villages have been acquired for the weir dam. Tribals of these villages have neither received money or land elsewhere in lieu of their land lost to the dam,” Vasava said.

“In total 72 villages and 75,000 tribal villagers have been affected by the project of ‘Statue of Unity’. The government is destroying our homes, land and culture It is a fight of jal, jungle, zameen (water, forest and land),” adds Vasava, who apprehends he shall be detained by the evening of October 30.

Courtesy: https://www.newsclick.in/

The post The Tall Price That Gujarat’s Tribals Are Paying for the ‘Tallest’ Statue appeared first on SabrangIndia.

Fed up With Caste Violence, Dalit Family in Gujarat Pleads for Euthanasia

Wed, 24 Oct 2018 05:50:41 +0000

The lone Sarvaiya family in Delwada village, dominated by 200 upper caste households, has been facing stone-pelting and ostracisation for far too long.

En route the road that connects Diu and Una, a tehsil in Junagad district, Gujarat, which was rocked by violence following the flogging of Dalits by upper castes in 2016, lies a nondescript village called Delwara. About two kilometres from Delwada village, amidst stretches of dry and arid land, a lone shanty house stands out.

The shanty house is what the family of Lalji Sarvaiya has been forced to call a home for the last two years. An accommodation that the government had allotted to the Sarvaiyas after they ran from pillar to post seeking to be rehabilitated.

Sarvaiyas belong to the traditional leather artisan caste, earlier called ‘chamars’. It is considered an outcaste community, one of the ‘lowest’ in the Indian caste hierarchy, and is listed as a Scheduled Caste in the Constitution.

Six years back Sarvaiyas were a family of 14 and lived in Ankolali village, Una taluka until September 12, 2012, Lalji Sarvaiya, one of the four sons of the family, was burnt alive in their house by upper caste villagers of Ankolali. The judgement on the murder case is expected to be delivered on October 30.

Lalji Sarvaiya, burnt alive at the age of 27

Targeted by Upper Castes
The family had to flee the village after the incident, leaving behind everything they had earned in a lifetime. The government granted them ‘refugee status’ in 2013.

“Every time the government surveyed a piece of land for our family, the upper caste villagers would protest against settling a Dalit family in their village. Due to this, we could not settle for four years and lived in a rented space in Una town. Finally, a plot two kilometres from Delwara village was allotted to us in 2016,” Piyush Sarvaiya, brother of Lalji Sarvaiya, told Newsclick.

“Even though the plot is two kilometres from the main village, upper caste villagers had still protested against allotting the plot to our family. But this time the revenue department was firm on their decision and gave us 15 bigha in lieu of the same measurement of land we had surrendered in Ankolali in 2012,” said Piyush Sarvaiya.

Noticeably, local leaders of both Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress were part of the protesting villagers of Delwara.

“The villagers pelt stones at our house at night to drive us away. I was told that the panchayat of Delwada has taken a formal decision barring all villagers to help us in anyway,” shares Piyush stating that despite having a plot of land to call their own, the problems are far from over.

‘Euthanasia the Only Option’
Fed up with all this, Piyush Sarvaiya has now written a letter to the Prime Minister seeking permission for euthanasia for him and his family.

“We have been at the receiving end of caste violence since 2012. Every time villagers of Delwada pelt stones, we go to the local police but they have never taken any action. Besides, the land allotted to us is dry, arid and rocky where cultivation isn’t possible. Nobody has cultivated this plot for 20 years,” says Piyush.

Noticeably, the Gujarat government has attempted to give out the contract to level the land and make it cultivable. However, there have been no takers for the work as the money allotted is a meagre Rs 4 lakh.

“If the government can’t solve our problems, and there will never be any respite for us, they can give us permission to die,” says Piyush.

This is not the first time that the Sarvaiya family has sought permission for euthanasia. In 2015, Kalabhai Sarvaiya, father of Lalji Sarvaiya and Piyush Sarvaiya, wrote to the Chief Minister of Gujarat stating that the family would be forced to commit suicide unless they get justice. The government responded by arresting Kalabhai and Piyush under section 309 of the Indian Penal Code that criminalised attempt to commit suicide. They were detained in Junagad jail for 18 days.

For the past six years, Kalabhai and his three sons have spent most of their time running between government offices or protesting. On April 7, 2015, the family of 12, was arrested for protesting and demanding justice and kept in Veraval jail for 24 hours.

In 2016, the Sarvaiya family, along with other Dalit families of Gujarat, sat on hunger strike in Gandhinagar demanding justice. After almost a month of the strike, when no government official responded, Kalabhai again wrote a letter to the Chief Minister, pleading for mercy killing for his family.

The judgement in the murder case of Lalji Sarvaiya is likely to be delivered on October 30 this year. “There are chances we might win the case,” says Govind Parmar, the advocate who fought the case.

The Incident
Kalabhai Sarvaiya had four sons, all of whom earned very well. Sarvaiyas were a well to do family of 14 living in Ankolali village of Una taluka, Junagad district. They were the only Dalit family in the village of about 200 households of Patels, Koli and Darbars (kshatriya).

“We were considered lowest in hierarchy, like any Dalit family. But our economic condition was better than many households of Kolis or even Darbars. We had a motorcycle, a bicycle repair shop, cattle and even a horse,”said Piyush.

“Besides the 14 bigha land that our father received more than 40 years ago, was fertile plot with water, electricity connection and borewell. TAgriculture would yield Rs 3-4 lakh annually,” he added.

“But everything was burnt that day,” says Piyush, recalling the horror that the family faced.

On September 13, 2002 Piyush and his elder brother Jheenabhai had left the village for some work. They returned to find everything in ruins.

Lalji Sarvaiya was 27 and worked in a stone quarry.

“He had done well for himself, he used to earn Rs 30,000 a month. He would wear his sunglass and leave for work on his motorcycle. Our father would scold him at times and ask him to maintain a low profile. We were only Dalit family in the village and our lifestyle raised quite a few eyebrows,” said Piyush.

Lalji allegedly did what a Dalit is forbidden to do. He fell in love with an upper caste gir.

“Rijiben was not just a Koli but also niece of Sarpanch’s husband. Rijiben had gone missing for two days ahead of the incident. The villagers called a bhua (tantric) who performed some ritual and declared that Rijiben was hiding in our house,” Piyush told Newsclick.

Following this, a mob of about 500, from Koli, Darbar and Patel castes pelted stones at their house, locked the door from outside and doused the house with kerosene and set it on fire. Lalji burnt alive as he could not escape.

Kalabhai escaped the fire but was injured in stone-pelting. He watched his son burn to death. Jhayaben Sarvaiya, Jheenabhai’s wife, watched the incident and never recovered from mental shock. She died 10 days later, leaving behind a two-month-old daughter.

Just before the incident, Kalabhai had taken a loan of Rs 1 lakh from the State Bank of India (SBI) in Una for buying seeds for the sowing season. The family had received the loan on September 12, a day before the fateful day. After the family fled Ankolali leaving behind their land, Kalabhai had requested SBI to write off the loan, but the bank refused.

Hopes Pinned on Oct 31 Judgement
“Our family is looking forward to the judgement. It has been a long and hard battle for justice,” says Piyush.

“The trial went through many twists and turns. Rijiben, one of our main witnesses, turned hostile,” said Parmar.

Two days after Lalji was burnt alive, Rijiben came to know of the incident and fled to Bhavnagar district fearing for her life. She managed to take shelter in a government-sponsored women’s home. Later, she wrote a letter to then in-charge of the women’s home stating that she feared for her life. The letter was submitted in the court as evidence.

“When Rijiben was brought to court for giving her statement, she changed her stand. She told the court that she was with her parents the night Lalji was killed. On being cross-questioned about the letter, she claimed that she was uneducated and couldn’t have possibly written the letter,” Parmar told Newsclick.

“However, the Sarvaiya family has been at the receiving end of social discrimination consciously for the past six years. The family has had to suffer a lot socially even after the incident,” adds Parmar.

“It has been difficult to return to a normal life since our brother was killed. Every time we would try to set up a home, upper caste villagers would disrupt our daily life. This is affecting the children of our family. They need to go to school,” says Piyush.

“After going through so much, if the government cannot assure us a home and education for our kids then we might as well be allowed to die,” he adds.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

The post Fed up With Caste Violence, Dalit Family in Gujarat Pleads for Euthanasia appeared first on SabrangIndia.

‘How Do we Feed Our Families Now?’ ask Migrant Workers Fleeing Gujarat

Wed, 10 Oct 2018 10:28:27 +0000

The violence against workers from Bihar, UP and MP has also hit industries in the state, leaving hundreds of workers in the lurch with no salaries and no jobs.

Devendra Kumar, a 28-year man, is waiting for the train to Jabalpur at the Kalupur railway station, Ahmedabad, which is swarming with migrant workers, all of them fleeing Gujarat for the safety of their lives. Kumar, who hails from Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, works in in Sanand and had been in Gujarat for the past seven months only. With others, Kumar was hired on the campus of Industrial Training Institute, Jhansi, from where he studied motor mechanics.

Devendra Kumar fleeing from Sanand GIDC

“A viral video showing some migrant worker being stripped and thrashed has got everyone scared at Sanand. Goons are beating up people who are stepping out for going on work. Twenty people beat up one person in the GIDC, Sanand (Gujarat Industrial development Corporation). It’s a dangerous place for us now. I managed to reach Ahmedabad somehow. Even local autorickshaw drivers in Sanand are threatening migrants trying to flee. Goons are stopping buses and beating up migrant workers,” says Kumar.

“What happens to my job now? We will not be able to return anytime soon. Who is going to pay our salary when this absence has been forced on us,” tells Kumar, whose brother and cousin are still stuck in Sanand, an industrial area that houses the biggest multinationals like Coca-Cola, Nestle, Porsche, Posco, Hitachi among others.

Wary of coming back to Gujarat, Kumar says, “My cousin has been living in Gujarat for 35 years now. He has three children. How will he feed them now? We are Indians, how can they throw us out? Let Uttar Pradesh government give us job, none of us will come to Gujarat.”

The BJP government in Gujarat may have appealed to the migrants not to flee, but the police doesn’t seem to be in sync with the administration.

“We couldn’t even step out of our home for buying food for two days for the fear of getting thrashed. Police is also asking us to leave and instead of providing protection,” said a migrant labourer who managed to flee from the Mehsana GIDC area.

Venting anger against the entire migrant population for the crime committed by one has shaken up the entire industrial belt.

“Punish the accused in whatever way fit, but why are we being attacked? All of us are being forced to flee leaving our source of income. We don’t know how long till we will be able to secure a job again. Uncertainty looms over our heads now,” says a baffled labourer from Bihar.

What Led to the Violence
On September 28, this year, a 14-month-old girl was raped by a migrant worker in a village near Himmatnagar, Sabarkantha district. The Sabarkantha police arrested one Ravindra Sahu, a migrant worker from Bihar, on the same day. However, since the 14-month-old victim belonged to Thakor community, Gujarat Kshatriya Thakor Sena, an organisation lead by Congress MLA Alpesh Thakor began demanding that workers from other states should not be given jobs in Gujarat. On October 2, a mob of about a hundred, led by local leaders of Kashtriya Thakor Sena, ransacked a factory near Vadnagar, Mehsana district and attacked migrant workers, injuring two of them.

Following this, more than 20 people of the Thakor Sena were arrested for the attack. However, similar incidents followed in industrial areas of Gandhinagar, Mehsana, Patan, Aravalli, Sabarkantha and Ahmedabad.

On October 4, a demonstration in Ahmedabad to protest the incident of rape took an ugly turn when protesters began targeting migrants. In one case, a migrant autorickshaw driver from UP was attacked by about 25 people.

“They began shouting that ‘outsiders’ should leave the state and Gujaratis should be saved. They ransacked vegetable vendors standing in the area. When I tried to flee they broke the windshield of my autorickshaw and thrashed me with sticks. I have suffered a fracture in my shoulder and finger,” said 23-year-old Kedarnath in the FIR that was registered subsequently.

In another incident in Ahmedabad on the same day, a migrant woman was followed, gheraoed and abused by four men who threatened her and asked her to leave the state.

Police Gives the ‘Festival’ Angle
“In the last week, 42 cases of violence against migrant labourers and workers have been reported in more than five districts. Two cases have been registered for spreading rumours on social media, and 342 people have been arrested so far in the matter. In Ahmedabad alone, 73 people have been arrested in city and 36 from rural Ahmedabad,” said Shivanand Jha, Director General of Police (DGP) Gujarat in a press conference on October 7.

Collector of Ahmedabad meeting with Sarpanch and other leaders of prominent organizations of GIDC areas.

“Such incidents of violence are happening between shift change at around 7 pm. State police has beefed up patrolling, intelligence and technical surveillance along with deployment of 17 companies of State Reserve Police (SRP) to curb the situation,” added Jha.

The DGP also stated that the workers might also be leaving because of upcoming festivals.

However, organisations working with migrants, refute the police’s claims.

“A few labourers go home for Diwali, most of them visit home during Chhat, considered the prime festival of Bihar and UP region. Both the festivals are due next month. People are leaving for their lives, not for festivities,” Shyamsingh Thakur, President of Uttar Bharat Vikas Parishad, an umbrella organisation that looks after migrants in the state, told Newsclick.

The attack on migrant labourers continue despite police deployment. In the most recent attack in Waghodia, Vadodara on October 7 where mob attacked migrant labourers at Campus Fastener and Param Engineers. Ten workers suffered serious injuries and were admitted to SSG hospital, Vadodara, as per Vadodara police.

Vadodara police has arrested 17 people in the matter same day. As per police the labourers, who lived there without family, were attacked with stones and wooden sticks.

“About 60,000 to 70,000 migrant workers and labourers have been forced to flee since the violence erupted,” said Thakur, a native of Uttar Pradesh whose family settled in Gujarat three generations back.

“These people had come to Gujarat in dire need of jobs. Many of them might even come back for sake of employment, but the fear is going to remain for a very long time,” he added.

Industry Owners Hit, Workers Left in Lurch
Meanwhile, a delegation of about 70 representatives of Sabarkantha Ceramic Industries Association, led by Manibhai Patel, president of the organisation, met Chief Minister Vijay Rupani and Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel over the matter.

About 100 ceramic factories in Sabarkantha, Aravalli and Mehsana in North Gujarat have been provided with heavy security following the attack. Despite the security, most labourers have either left or confined to their residences.

The association claimed that exodus of workers had affected the functioning of more of the factories. More than six units have had to be completely shut with no worker reporting to work.
Cotton mills and chemical factories have also been affected due to the exodus of migrant labourers. However, many migrant labourers have claimed that their employers have left them to fend for themselves in the situation.

“The factory owner asked us to go home. We were not even paid our salary and told that we should come back and collect it,” claimed Bhagwan Yadav, a 19-year-old migrant labourer from Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh.

Bhagwan Yadav, a migrant worker waiting for train at Kalupur Railway Station

“We were paid half our salary and asked to leave for safety,” said another migrant worker who works in a fertiliser company in Gandhinagar.

Noticeably, following the rape of the 14-month-old girls in Sabarkantha, Alpesh Thakor, Congress MLA from Radhanpur and President of Gujarat Kshatriya Thakor Sena, led a protest in the district. Thakor is also the in-charge Secretary of the Congress for Bihar.

In his speech, he demanded that the accused should be awarded the most severe punishment and should be hanged. Thakor went on to say, “Migrant workers should get a no-objection certificate from police and the state government should give preference to locals when it comes to jobs.”

Reportedly his speech raked up members of Thakor Sena who unleashed violence on non-Gujarati migrant workers in some districts of the state.

Later, after members of the organisation were arrested, Thakor called a press conference at his Ahmedabad residence on October 7 where he rubbished any involvement of Gujarat Kshatriya Thakor Sena, and claimed that it was all a “political conspiracy” to malign him.

“All Indian are safe in Gujarat,” said the MLA demanding the immediate release of his men.

Adding that his men were being “witch-hunted” by the authorities, he said, “25 FIRs have been registered in five districts in which more than 400 of our men have been named or arrested. This is a conspiracy to harm Gujarat Kshatriya Thakor Sena.”

Thakor said that he would sit on an indefinite ‘sadbhavna fast’ from October 11 until all false case against men of Gujarat Kshatriya Thakor Sena are withdrawn.

While BJP blamed Thakor’s ‘hate speech’ for igniting the violence, Gujarat Congress President Amit Chavda condemned the attacks on migrants and blamed the Gujarat government for the situation.

“Such incidents of attacks against the Migrants also exposes the rising lawlessness and sheer failure of Gujarat Govt in upholding the rule of law in the state, and instead of doing its job, Government is trying to escape it’s responsibility by baselessly blaming opposition,” he tweeted.

Incidentally, recently BJP leader and Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani had said that his government would bring in a law to ensure that 80% jobs in the state are provided to Gujaratis.

“Those who set up business in Gujarat, including the service sector, will have to ensure that 80 per cent of the jobs are given to Gujaratis. The state government is in the process of making such a law,” he was quoted as saying in a report by the Indian Express.

Courtesy: Newsclick.in

The post ‘How Do we Feed Our Families Now?’ ask Migrant Workers Fleeing Gujarat appeared first on SabrangIndia.