I report. I don't answer.

Kachch, Gujarat:

We started late in the afternoon for Zarapara village and my young guide Deval was already anxious. According to her, going to Zarapara late in the evening was parking ourselves right in the middle of trouble. But given the time constraint, I had only that evening to go there for a story on pasture land and fodder. The village, in Mundra taluka of Gujarat’s Kachch district, is about 70 kms from the district capital Bhuj. However, I took her fears lightly, thinking it was just the shyness of a young village girl faced with all the men suddenly. And when we reached there, at about 7.30 pm, I asked her to take me to some elderly people with whom I could talk about the problem of fodder and dairying in the region. But she flatly refused to let me get out of the vehicle and talk to a group of old men sitting there. “You don’t know how bad things can get here,” she said.

Having travelled in Gujarat’s villages earlier, I knew people were very forthcoming and piled you with information from past and present; for which reason,  Elderlies were the first people I sought. Because we were already late, Deval stopping me from talking to them irritated me all the more. And then our driver Visham Kaka said that this is the time when everybody in the village is drunk. “If you ask them anything right now, especially about Gauchar, there is all likelihood of a riot. This has been there ever since the revolt happened,” he said.

I got to know about the ‘Revolt of April 2008’ when Deval’s uncle, Ashanand Ghadvi, a teacher and local journalist too, came to meet us. The conflict began when the former Sarpanch of the village, Seda Dhanraj Chackoo, sold off 600 acres out of the village’s 1600 acres of Gauchar land to Mundra Port and SEZ Limited. On April 15, 2008, the Gram Sabha passed a resolution, vowing not to hand over the land. “The Sarpanch told the collecter that there are not enough animals in the village so we do not need so much of Gauchar. Thats a total lie,” said Valjibhai Tapariya, a BJP MLA who is leading the struggle to save the village’s Gauchar land.

Now there are two groups in the village. The one that sided with the ex-Sarpanch and the one against him. And there are fights between them on the slightest pretext. “Chackoo walks around with security guards now. Even though he is quite old, he has been attacked twice,” Deval told me as we crossed his fort-like house. The only thing I could see as I peeped in were two SUVs parked there. “We know that the ex-Sarpanch took a lot of money from the company but he did not keep all the money to himself. He made pukka roads, got people jobs in the company, renovated the exterior of the market place. We even have a rest house in our village now,” said Deval, a second year College student in Bhuj. “People got a new Sarpanch after fighting but that man is illeterate. He was selected just because people wanted to remove Chackoo,” she said.

Ghadvi took us to the village Chaupal where there were more bikes than people. It was 8.30 pm by now. I had started sharing Deval’s fear as all I could see there was hostile faces. People sat in small groups playing cards. Very unlike a village Chaupal which I had earlier seen to be usually quite after dark as farmers slept early after a hectic day in the fields, here it was alive with people but not a sound. “Many young people have taken up jobs as drivers and labourers with the company. Driving especially is a well-paid job. And anyways, who wants to do farming when people are getting phenomenally high prices for their land,” said Ghadvi. I knew this, as the taxi that we hired from Bhuj was at the most expensive rates in all of Gujarat. Back in Bhuj, Yogesh Jadeja of the non-profit Arid Communities and Technologies explained. “So many companies came in after the earthquake when the Gujarat government gave them tax holidays and incentives to set up business in Kachch. They hardly bother about paying highly for taxis and many other commodities. This has led to increased prices of so many things,” said Jadeja.

The price of land in areas around Mundra are not less than two crores for an acre. “Still, its difficult to get land here as people feel prices will rise further,” said Visham Kaka. This explained the bikes and SUVs.

But according to Ghadvi, nobody in Zarapara and adjoining Bhujpur wants to sell land. “Our region is well known for dates, chikoos and mangoes and we get substantial income from that. But I think the industry is not going to let this occupation survive long. Only one chimney of the Siracha Power plant by Adani became operational in May 2009 and there was 40 per cent less fruit last year and this year, there is already soot on plants. We are hardly seeing any flowers while this is the season for date trees to flower before fruiting,” said Ghadvi. Siracha power plant, with a proposed capacity of 4620 MW, would be the largest thermal power plant in the country.

There are atleast three power plants being constructed by the usual big names near Zarapara, Adani, Jindal and Tata. The Mundra Port and SEZ wants a lot of soil for reclaiming sea which is why Gauchars are needed. “They mine soil from Gauchars and take it to the sea,” said Valji Bhai.

“We have many communties, Ghadvis, Maldharis and Muslims who stayed in this village.  Because of lack of Gauchar, Maldharis have left now and there is perpetual tension between the rest of the people. Young people compete against each other to earn more money. Some people have a lot of money and the rest, none. The conflict, tension and cash has led to drinking habit. And now people show-off when they buy branded liquor. Don’t you think we have also become modern like Delhi?”

Well, to this, I had no answer.


 

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