The Gujarat government has been forced to seek stay on work on a Rs 2,500-crore plant to produce 1 million tonnes of cement a year following protests by villagers. However, what makes this environmental protest different is that the man trying to get the state to do a rethink is an MLA of the ruling BJP. And that his supporters include the CPM — a party in the other end of the political spectrum.

Nirma is building the cement plant in Dolia village, 10 km off the Bhavnagar coastal highway. According to the villagers, led by the BJP’s Mahuva MLA, Dr Kanu Kalsaria, the factory will destroy lives and livelihoods in the saline area.

The land where the factory is coming up includes a water body, the Samadhiyala, spread over 100 hectares and the only irrigation source for many villages in the area. People say it will also also eat up grazing land used by their livestock in at least nine villages, including Nep, Kalsar, Vangar, Madhiya, Gujarda, Dudheri, Dudhala, Padhiyarka and Dolia. Kalsaria says he had no idea the government was going to permit such a plant there.

“In this saline area, mining will permanently destroy agriculture land, affecting a 40,000-strong population and 8,000 heads of cattle. It is illegal as well. The Gujarat High Court had ruled in 2000 that wetland cannot be used for any other purpose,” says Kalsaria, a two-time MLA who is a practising and locally popular urologist.

The CPM says it’s right in backing him on the agitation. “This is a serious issue concerning so many people’s lives. We decided not to look at party colours in this,” says Gujarat CPM secretary Arun Mehta.

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