Junagadh village rises in protest against transfer of 650 acre land to L&T Port Sutrapada Pvt Ltd

Even as the Gujarat government has claimed credit for banning gauvadh (cow slaughter) in the state, the state’s shrinking gauchar (grazing land) area is increasingly landing up with the industries.

Over the last few years, several corporate giants such as L&T (Larsen & Toubro), Adani, Reliance and others have hugely benefited from the newly acquired gauchar land, and are emerging as the new ‘landlords’ of Gujarat.

Consider the recent case of 650 acres of village gauchar land in the Vadodara Jala village of Sutrapada taluka of Junagadh district. It was acquired by the Gujarat Maritime Board (GMB), Veraval, to be transferred to L&T Port Sutrapada Pvt Ltd, for constructing a private port on the aforementioned land. It resulted in a unanimous condemnation by the gram panchayat and the formation of a Sangharsh Samiti. Subsequently, work at the site was stopped. Dilipsinh Jhala, Convenor, Sangharsh Samiti, said, “As of now, the company has possession on paper, but the villagers have continued to stall the work.”

Hitendra Solanki, Project Manager, L&T, said he is not authorised to say anything, while C J Rawal, Executive Engineer (Privatisation Cell), GMB, simply refused to comment.

The Gujarat government has issued a Government Resolution mentioning the requirement of 40 acres of gauchar land for every 100 animals. The village in question has an animal population of 6,060, taking the required gauchar land to 2,424 acres. “Why did the government decide to sell the remaining 650 acres, leaving nothing for grazing? It is beyond comprehension,” said Chunni Vaidya, president, Gujarat Lok Samiti, an organisation supporting villagers on the issue.

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