The farmers are angry as their fertile land is being allegedly forcefully acquired for the project, without assessing its impact on the people and environment
Farmers in south Gujarat continued their protests against the Ahmedabad-Mumbai Bullet Train project for the third consecutive day on Wednesday. The agitating farmers protested outside the office of the District Collector of Valsad and submitted a memorandum. The farmers are angry as their fertile land is being allegedly forcefully acquired for the project, without assessing its impact on the people and environment.
Coming up with the Japanese aid of Rs 1.16 lakh crore, the Bullet Train will cover a distance of 508 km between Ahmedabad and Mumbai. The project is opposed by farmers in both Gujarat and Maharashtra as the land acquired is believed to be fertile and very conducive for agriculture. According to the Gujarat Khedut Samaj (GKS), 192 villages in Gujarat are affected by the project, and, as a result, farmers have taken to streets. "On Wednesday, we gave a representation to the District Collector of Valsad raising our objections to the project. We have been doing this for the past two days in different districts," said Jayesh Patel, president of GKS.
Farmer leaders are demanding that the land acquisition be conducted under central laws and not state act.
The BJP-ruled state has diluted certain provisions of the 2013 land acquisition act passed under the UPA government by making amendments such as doing away with the mandatory social impact assessment and consent of a majority of farmers. Farmers are also opposing the land acquisition for an expressway project coming up on the same route.
The GKS on Wednesday also filed a petition in the Gujarat High Court, which is likely to be heard on Thursday. The group wants to highlight how land is being acquired for the project through highhandedness of the authorities without taking into account the interests of the people affected by the project. In one such occasion in Wagaldhara village in Valsad district, villagers drove away officials who had come to conduct a land survey for acquisition.
The GKS is also carrying out a Khedut Sampark Yatra from June 22 to June 25 covering all the 192 villages affected by the project to mobilize public opinion. In a major development, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) has also declared support to the protest march.
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