More than 50 farmers were detained while 10 others were injured when police fired tear gas shells to disperse thousands of farmers gathered to resist Gujarat government’s company to take possession of their lands for a lignite plant in Bhavnagar district of Gujarat.
Over 10,000 farmers in a dozen villages have launched a strong protests against the Gujarat Gujarat Power Corporation Ltd (GPCL), which acquired 3,377 acres agriculture lands from 1,250 farmers two decades back. The local head of farmers’ group alleged that the police manhandled the protesters, including women and children, and in the process at least five people were injured on Sunday.
According to farmers, though the land was acquired some two decades ago, all these years the land remained in the possession of farmers who were cultivating it. The farmers have now been opposing the company’s bid to take possession of the acquired land.
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The company had sought police protection for its task to take the possession of the land when the clash erupted.
“We detained around 50 people and fired about 50 teargas shells, and also baton-charged the protesters near Badi village,” said a police official from Bhavnagar.
Narendrasinh Gohil, a local farmer leader and member of Gujarat Khedut Samaj, a State-wide farmers body to fight for the rights rights, said that the farmers were carrying out a peaceful protest when the company officials accompanied by police came and started beating farmers including women and children.
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“As we carried out a peaceful protest march against the company’s move to take possession of our land, a large number of policemen were deployed to prevent us. The farmers and their families, including women and children, came out in thousands to protest this,” he said.
According to him, farmers don’t want to give up the land they are cultivating because that’s the only source of livelihood they have in this extremely backward region.
Among those who were detained included women also. The protesters have demanded the company to initiate fresh proceedings to acquire the contentious land as per the Land Acquisition Act-2013.
This was the third time the farmers resisted the company’s move to take possession of the land. The farmers from the affected villages had earlier filed a petition in the Gujarat High Court against the move, saying the company will have to initiate a fresh procedure to acquire the land, as per section 24 (2) of the Land Acquisition Act-2013.
As per the new land acquisition act, an agency will have to initiate a new procedure to acquire land if it did not take its possession for more than five years after acquiring it.
A leading Gujarat High Court lawyer Anand Yagnik said, “The High Court has completed the hearing but not passed the order, as the Supreme Court recently asked courts not to pass an order until inconsistent judgements in the matter are settled by its constitutional bench”.
“No interim relief was granted to us in the matter,” he added.
‘Why Land Act not applied?’
Reacting to the development senior Congress leader Ahmed Patel said: “Why is the Gujarat government refusing to apply Land Act 2013 to the case of protesting farmers in Bhavnagar district? Their land was acquired by a state PSU 20 years ago and never utilised. The detention of farmers for making a legitimate demand is most unfortunate.”