Gandhinagar, 18 June 2013

A rally of villagers led by left leaning NGOs today marched to Gandhinagar protesting proposed Becharaji-Mandal Special Investment Region(SIR).

Proposed SIR will be located next to Maruti Suzuki plant. The land for Maruti Suzuki plant is clear, and there’s no dispute about it.

On Monday, 150 representatives from 44 villages met senior ministers in Gandhinagar. They were told that the government has not acquired a single inch of land and govt is not going to acquire it in future too. 60 % land will be owned by farmers, while 40% will be used to create infrastructure. SIR shall have non polluted units. 900 ha land will be used for I.T. and University. Village limits shall remain same and Gauchar shall remain with Gram Panchayat. The project will add more income to Gram Panchayats.

After the meeting there were two groups of farmers. While one group consisting 70% farmers agreed to govt proposal, the other group of 30% farmers sought lesser than 40% cut in their land.

The group of villagers that participated in the protest today in Gandhinagar was led by left-leaning NGOs, some details of which are presented in this article.