Educate people to empower them & fight for their rights

Wherever muscle and money power are involved, we see issues similar to the one in Kalupur. In fact Kalupur is not the only example of the builder-mafia nexus.

It can be seen in other parts of the city and the country.

The main problem is the level of awareness and education, especially among the poor and those living in ghettos of the city. They need to be aware of the land deals and laws pertaining to sale, purchase or renting of a house or piece of land.

Despite several efforts at different levels, the fact remains that there is no awareness among the common people about laws connected to land dealings in the city.

Those who have money become builders. We have also seen that those connected to bootlegging and gambling are also moving into the business.
What do you need to be a builder? Money, of course. And those builders who don't want to work in the legal framework will need muscle power too.

It is very easy for them to grab land and harass the poor because the victims don't know the law. Thus the illiterate become easy prey for such land mafias.
During my tenure as a police official, I came to know about some cases wherein the land was illegally grabbed and only with my intervention was the accused nabbed.

The land mafia knows every provision in the law or have powerful legal backing in their land grab endeavours. They know that once a matter goes to court then it will be easy for them to grab land as the court takes years to resolve a matter.

And if we talk of customers, most get lured by cheap prices.

This is fine but one needs to analyse as to why a house, for example, is being sold cheap.

It could be because the builder has used sub-standard materials and so can afford to sell it at cheaper rates.

And once somebody gets cheated they need to come forward to tell the police about it. I agree that people are scared of going to a police station, even to file a complaint.

They will only approach a police officer to file a complaint and never for guidance.

This has to change and the department needs to put in efforts to change the common man's perception of the police. We need to work a lot on this.
Ours is a society where people like to live in groups. For instance, an entire locality will have just one type of residents, all of whom have similar culture and background.

Like, say, vegetarians don't like to live with non-vegetarians and visa versa.
As a result ghettos are formed. Almost all the ghettos, be it in Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Kolkata or New York, are places where crime and criminals have a better presence compared to other parts of the city. The reason is lack of education, proper opportunities and of course the willingness to make a quick buck by hook or by crook. Even affluent people are willing to earn money through not-so-legal means but such cases are referred to as 'white collar crimes' and rarely get noticed.

However, those living in ghettos get involved in small crime which quickly comes to the notice. I think the lack of education and opportunities is to be blamed for the crime in ghettos. Development is the only solution to all these problems.

Once an area is developed and people start getting job opportunities the crime rate will go down. Education is another important matter as it will not be easy for criminal elements to cheat people if they know of their rights. The local government also needs to have an interactive approach.

Say, for instance, why can't we have an awareness drive about the legal aspects of a land deal? Why can't officers distribute pamphlets on the same? Why can't the local government become more participative?
The writer is a retired DGP, Gujarat State