Vijay Rupani
Alleging that authorities were not removing encroachment from the community grazing land near his agricultural land, a farmer tried to commit suicide by consuming pesticide at a public event of Chief Minister Vijay Rupani at Pransali village in Gir Somnath district on Sunday.
The farmer has been identified as Mashri Dodiya of Dolasa village of Kodinar taluka in Gir Somnath district.
The CM was at Pransali village to inaugurate the newly developed agricultural produce market committee (APMC) of Sutrapada taluka when the incident took place. As soon as Rupani rose to address the people after inaugurating the APMC, Dodiya, who was sitting among the audience, consumed poison.
“The victim was held by the police deployed at the venue and rushed to a government hospital in Veraval. Doctors have said his condition is stable,” said Superintendent of Police (Gir Somnath) Rahul Tripathi.
Dodiya said that landsharks had encroached the gauchar (community grazing land) in his village and had, in the process, blocked the access to his agricultural field. He told reporters in the hospital that 15 days ago, he had complained to the Chief Minister through Swagat Online platform, and Rupani had ordered the local authorities to do the needful in two weeks.
“But neither the taluka development officer of Kodinar nor Dolasa village panchayat is doing anything to remove the encroachment. I made repeated appeals to the village panchayat officials and the Taluka Development Officer (TDO) but in vain. Fed up of running around, I decided to end my life,” he told reporters at the hospital.
Later in the evening, an official release from the State Information Department said that the Gir Somnath Collector had ordered redressal of Dodiya’s complaint on a priority basis. “The District Collector has instructed district inspector of land records to conduct survey of the said land in Dolasa and that the taluka development officer of Kodinar will remove encroachment, if any, immediately,” stated the release.