Gandhinagar: A group of Congress MLAs and leaders led by Rajya Sabha MP Ahmed Patel, Gujarat Congress president Amit Chavda and leader of opposition Paresh Dhanani met Governor O P Kohli on Wednesday evening and alleged that the Gujarat government was doing injustice to farmers in compensating them for land acquired for the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train project.
The Congress also accused the BJP government of encroaching on the rights of panchayati raj institutions that are ruled by the Congress. The Congress also alleged that there were massive irregularities in the state government’s Sujalam Sufalam Jal Abhiyaan.
The Congress memorandum to the governor states, “We seek to apprise you of the gross injustice being committed upon farmers, farm labourers, adivasis and dalits by the government of Gujarat. It is a state-sponsored attempt to take away their land either without appropriate consent and/or without adequate compensation. In most cases, the affected families have overnight been pushed to the margins of poverty. The Gujarat government is accomplishing this objective by applying the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Gujarat Amendment) Act, 2016, which is in direct contravention to the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013. We had petitioned this very office when the Gujarat land bill was under consideration for passage. Unfortunately our worst fears of this draconian legislation is turning out to be true.”