Kadviben Bhaliya, a 60-year-old from Dugheri village in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district, is particularly fond of bajra nu rotla – thick, hand-made millet bread. In fact, she likes the dish so much, when she met Narendra Modi in 2010 to protest against the Gujarat government’s decision to allow a cement factory to be built on farm land in her area, she gave the chief minister rotlas made out of cement. “The land will not produce crops anymore but cement, and I will not make bajra nu rotla any more but cement nu rotla,” she told him. “Will you eat this?’’
As prime ministerial aspirant Modi has hit the campaign trail to aggressively push his celebrated Gujarat model as the vehicle of inclusive economic development, Bhaliya and 14,000 other farmers from 15 villages in Bhavnagar’s Mahuva taluka are attempting to demonstrate its flaws. For the last five years, they have run a campaign to prevent the Gujarat government from giving fertile farm land in their region to Nirma Ltd to build a cement plant.
Their protest began to take shape in 2008, when the giant detergent manufacturer Nirma was allotted 268 hectares of land in Mahuva taluka to build a Rs 1,000-crore cement plant, a coal-based thermal power plant and a coke plant. Some of this land was located by the Samadhiyala water reservoir and the wetland ecosystem that was its catchment area. Another 3,429 hectares of land from nine villages was approved as a limestone mining area for the cement factory.
Situated on the western coast of Gujarat’s Saurashtra region, the villages around Mahuva were not always as green as they are today. Farmers here grow what they eat and often have enough to sell in the market to supplement their incomes. Even as jowar and bajra lusciously sway in the April heat, the ground is covered by tiny green plants bearing peanuts under the earth.
The Samadhiyala reservoir, completed in 2000, has transformed the lives of the region’s farmers, said Khimjibhai Bariya, who was among the villages who filed a case in the Gujarat High Court in 2009 opposing the construction of the Nirma cement plant.
"We have just started reaping the benefits of our land and now a cement factory was going to take it away,’’ said Bariya, who grows jowar on his six-acre fields. “I am illiterate and so are my sons and daughters. What will we do?”
In 2009, Bariya, Bhaliya and other villagers organised themselves under the Mahuva Bandhara Khetiwadi Paryavaran Bachao Samiti and conducted a ten-day study tour of other Saurashtra villages in which cement plants run by Narmada Ambuja and other firms are located. "The farmers there showed us the land degradation brought by the dust and pollution from the cement plants,” said Hamirbhai Shah from Padhiayarki village, who helped fight the case. “They told us not to make the same mistake as they did and instead oppose the plant. If the plant comes, it will destroy our farming.’’
Until a decade ago, the land here had a high degree of salinity. As a result of high limestone content, only 10% of the land could be cultivated. "There was no agriculture here and no employment,” recalled Bharatbhai Shiyal, the sarpanch of Dugheri. “Entire villages would migrate to other towns and cities.”
But in the late 1990s, the Gujarat government began to construct four reservoirs – Nikol, Malan, Samadhiyala and Kalsar – to neutralise the salinity. Now, almost 100% of the land in the region is under cultivation. As a result, Shiyal said, “we grow crop three times a year and stay in our land”.
Their battle against the plant has not been easy. The villagers have faced fines and police detention during their non-violent agitation. In 2010, they even walked more than 500km to Gandhinagar to meet Modi. The five-year protest has been led by Dr Kanubhai Kalsaria, a former Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Mahuva constituency, who stood against his own government’s decision and Modi’s Gujarat model.
"The BJP failed to assure us that the cement plant would not harm the environment and no land of farmers will be taken for its construction,” said Dr Kalsaria. “This development model will set a dangerous trend as it is against the interests of farmers.’’
The three-time BJP MLA has since quit the party and is contesting the current Lok Sabha elections from Bhavnagar constituency on an Aam Aadmi Party ticket. "Many in the BJP asked me to stop the protests, but I will continue to fight for these farmers,’’ he said.
When the Gujarat government responded to the affidavit filed by the villagers in 2009 defending its decision to allot the land to Nirma group, it stated that there were no revenue records of Samadhiyala bandhara or any reservoir standing on the land. In response, the farmers produced satellite pictures from the National Remote Sensing Agency to prove their point. But the government continued to claim that the area allotted to Nirma was a wasteland.
In reality, the Gujarat government’s Rs 200-crore scheme to curb salinity in coastal areas by building the four reservoirs has resulted in the creation of a rich wetland ecosystem, teeming with flora and fauna. More than 50,000 migratory birds of 40 different species descend on these wetlands from November to April each year.
In December 2011, as the case proceeded to the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Environment and Forest revoked the environmental clearance granted to the Nirma cement factory, stating that it had been issued on the basis of “undisclosed and incorrect postulates”.
"There could be alternative sites enough in the vicinity,’’ the expert committee of ministry stated after visiting Mahuva to study the ecological impact of the cement plant. “No fresh water sanctuary needs to be razed to pitch a cement plant.”
Though the half-built skeleton of the Nirma cement plant now stands as an eyesore amidst the swaying crop fields, the villagers of Mahuva are well aware that the battle to protect their land is only half won. The case is currently in the Supreme Court and Nirma group is yet to file its reply.
For now, though, the construction of the plant has halted and so have the protests. However, opposition to the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections has only gained momentum. The prospect of BJP winning the Amreli constituency (which includes Mahuva) and forcefully push for the construction of cement plant does not seem implausible for the villagers.
Discussing his view of the situation, BJP MP Naranbhai Kacchadiya, who is defending his seat of Amreli, said that he believed that the development of cement factory would benefit the area. "There are few villages which are opposed to Nirma but we will try to make them understand it is for their good,” he said. “When an industry comes it will bring in development and employment.’’
However, the villagers note that since fewer than 10% of them are literate, the 418 jobs Nirma says the plant will create will not help them very much. "If Modi wants to bring development, he should consider giving us the basic facilities first,’’ said Hamirbhai Shah. Since Independence, no state transport bus has made way through the rocky roads in the interiors of Mahuva. The best help the government could give farmers was to provide them uninterrupted power supply instead of the current eight-hour quota they received, Shah said.
Meanwhile, Kadviben Bhaliya, who has also switched her loyalties to AAP, is campaigning to prevent Modi from becoming the wada pradhan. "If you want your rotlas and save the land, vote for jhadu,” she told women in her village, referring to AAP’s election symbol. “It will not bring the cement factory.’’
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As prime ministerial aspirant Modi has hit the campaign trail to aggressively push his celebrated Gujarat model as the vehicle of inclusive economic development, Bhaliya and 14,000 other farmers from 15 villages in Bhavnagar’s Mahuva taluka are attempting to demonstrate its flaws. For the last five years, they have run a campaign to prevent the Gujarat government from giving fertile farm land in their region to Nirma Ltd to build a cement plant.
Their protest began to take shape in 2008, when the giant detergent manufacturer Nirma was allotted 268 hectares of land in Mahuva taluka to build a Rs 1,000-crore cement plant, a coal-based thermal power plant and a coke plant. Some of this land was located by the Samadhiyala water reservoir and the wetland ecosystem that was its catchment area. Another 3,429 hectares of land from nine villages was approved as a limestone mining area for the cement factory.
Situated on the western coast of Gujarat’s Saurashtra region, the villages around Mahuva were not always as green as they are today. Farmers here grow what they eat and often have enough to sell in the market to supplement their incomes. Even as jowar and bajra lusciously sway in the April heat, the ground is covered by tiny green plants bearing peanuts under the earth.
The Samadhiyala reservoir, completed in 2000, has transformed the lives of the region’s farmers, said Khimjibhai Bariya, who was among the villages who filed a case in the Gujarat High Court in 2009 opposing the construction of the Nirma cement plant.
"We have just started reaping the benefits of our land and now a cement factory was going to take it away,’’ said Bariya, who grows jowar on his six-acre fields. “I am illiterate and so are my sons and daughters. What will we do?”
In 2009, Bariya, Bhaliya and other villagers organised themselves under the Mahuva Bandhara Khetiwadi Paryavaran Bachao Samiti and conducted a ten-day study tour of other Saurashtra villages in which cement plants run by Narmada Ambuja and other firms are located. "The farmers there showed us the land degradation brought by the dust and pollution from the cement plants,” said Hamirbhai Shah from Padhiayarki village, who helped fight the case. “They told us not to make the same mistake as they did and instead oppose the plant. If the plant comes, it will destroy our farming.’’
Until a decade ago, the land here had a high degree of salinity. As a result of high limestone content, only 10% of the land could be cultivated. "There was no agriculture here and no employment,” recalled Bharatbhai Shiyal, the sarpanch of Dugheri. “Entire villages would migrate to other towns and cities.”
But in the late 1990s, the Gujarat government began to construct four reservoirs – Nikol, Malan, Samadhiyala and Kalsar – to neutralise the salinity. Now, almost 100% of the land in the region is under cultivation. As a result, Shiyal said, “we grow crop three times a year and stay in our land”.
Their battle against the plant has not been easy. The villagers have faced fines and police detention during their non-violent agitation. In 2010, they even walked more than 500km to Gandhinagar to meet Modi. The five-year protest has been led by Dr Kanubhai Kalsaria, a former Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Mahuva constituency, who stood against his own government’s decision and Modi’s Gujarat model.
"The BJP failed to assure us that the cement plant would not harm the environment and no land of farmers will be taken for its construction,” said Dr Kalsaria. “This development model will set a dangerous trend as it is against the interests of farmers.’’
The three-time BJP MLA has since quit the party and is contesting the current Lok Sabha elections from Bhavnagar constituency on an Aam Aadmi Party ticket. "Many in the BJP asked me to stop the protests, but I will continue to fight for these farmers,’’ he said.
When the Gujarat government responded to the affidavit filed by the villagers in 2009 defending its decision to allot the land to Nirma group, it stated that there were no revenue records of Samadhiyala bandhara or any reservoir standing on the land. In response, the farmers produced satellite pictures from the National Remote Sensing Agency to prove their point. But the government continued to claim that the area allotted to Nirma was a wasteland.
In reality, the Gujarat government’s Rs 200-crore scheme to curb salinity in coastal areas by building the four reservoirs has resulted in the creation of a rich wetland ecosystem, teeming with flora and fauna. More than 50,000 migratory birds of 40 different species descend on these wetlands from November to April each year.
In December 2011, as the case proceeded to the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Environment and Forest revoked the environmental clearance granted to the Nirma cement factory, stating that it had been issued on the basis of “undisclosed and incorrect postulates”.
"There could be alternative sites enough in the vicinity,’’ the expert committee of ministry stated after visiting Mahuva to study the ecological impact of the cement plant. “No fresh water sanctuary needs to be razed to pitch a cement plant.”
Though the half-built skeleton of the Nirma cement plant now stands as an eyesore amidst the swaying crop fields, the villagers of Mahuva are well aware that the battle to protect their land is only half won. The case is currently in the Supreme Court and Nirma group is yet to file its reply.
For now, though, the construction of the plant has halted and so have the protests. However, opposition to the BJP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections has only gained momentum. The prospect of BJP winning the Amreli constituency (which includes Mahuva) and forcefully push for the construction of cement plant does not seem implausible for the villagers.
Discussing his view of the situation, BJP MP Naranbhai Kacchadiya, who is defending his seat of Amreli, said that he believed that the development of cement factory would benefit the area. "There are few villages which are opposed to Nirma but we will try to make them understand it is for their good,” he said. “When an industry comes it will bring in development and employment.’’
However, the villagers note that since fewer than 10% of them are literate, the 418 jobs Nirma says the plant will create will not help them very much. "If Modi wants to bring development, he should consider giving us the basic facilities first,’’ said Hamirbhai Shah. Since Independence, no state transport bus has made way through the rocky roads in the interiors of Mahuva. The best help the government could give farmers was to provide them uninterrupted power supply instead of the current eight-hour quota they received, Shah said.
Meanwhile, Kadviben Bhaliya, who has also switched her loyalties to AAP, is campaigning to prevent Modi from becoming the wada pradhan. "If you want your rotlas and save the land, vote for jhadu,” she told women in her village, referring to AAP’s election symbol. “It will not bring the cement factory.’’
Kadviben Bhaliya working in her bajra fields in Dugheri village, 5 km from Mahuva town in Bhavnagar district, Saurashtra, Gujarat.