Farmers’ stir falls flat as HC clears Nirma plant

The petitioners,Shree Mahuva Bandhara Khetiwadi Pariyavaran Bachav Samiti and others,had prayed for court directions to the state government to cancel the land allotment to Nirma,claiming it would jeopardise local ecology and livelihood of the farmers.

The petitioners’ lawyer,Bhushan Oza,said that after going through the judgment,they would take a decision on challenging it in the Supreme Court.

Earlier,the state government had sanctioned 268 hectares near Mahuva to Nirma Limited to set up a cement plant in 2008. The petitioner organisation had challenged this on the ground that out of the 268 hectares,222 was part of a water body that came into being after prolonged efforts to build check dams in the region to check salinity ingress.

The petitioner had also contended that the HC had,in 2002,ordered the state government to identify and notify all the water bodies in the state and held that the state government cannot give land of such water bodies to anyone for any purpose. The proposed project had invited a mass protest by local farmers led by BJP legislator Dr Kanu Kalsariya.

During the hearing,senior counsel Dushyant Dave,appearing on behalf of Nirma Limited,proposed to surrender 46 hectares more to the government as per the report of an expert committee led by former Chief Secretary of Gujarat,S K Shelat.

The Committee had stated in its report regarding the feasibility of giving land for the cement plant that only 168 hectares must be allotted. Subsequently,Nirma surrendered 54 hectares.

Prakash Jani,who represented the state government in court along with the Advocate General,said,“The court has rejected the petition stating that there is no water body on the land given to Nirma.”

The petitioners had prayed for a stay on the judgment for four weeks to challenge it in the apex court,but it was rejected.

The Mahuva story
May 1,2009:
Farmers led by Dr Kanu Kalsariya begin agitation after work begins at the proposed cement plant in Mahuva. The land was allotted to Nirma in 2008
May 27,2009:
Government calls agitating farmers to resolve the issue
May 28,2009:
Government forms a committee to look into the demands of farmers and requests them to halt the agitation
March 27,2009:
Shree Mahuva Bandhara Khetiwadi Pariyavaran Bachav Samiti and others file a PIL in the HC challenging the land allotment
February 26,2010:
Kalsariya detained with 700 others in Gandhinagar after the former tried to meet CN Narendra Modi over the issue
March 16,2010:
HC stays work on the Nirma plant at Mahuva till further orders
March 31,2010:
Nirma offers to surrender 46 hectares to the government for amicable resolution of the issue
April 8,2010:
Petitioners do not accept the Nirma offer
April 26,2010:
HC allows Nirma to go ahead with the plant with the plant