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IS GUJARAT'S HANSALPUR GOING THE
SINGUR WAY?

Locals opposed to Maruti Suzuki India proposed car
manufacturing plant at Hansalpur village are likely to send a notice to the company asking it to stop
construction at the site, an activist associated with the
protest said.“We have decided to send a
notice to MSI asking them to halt construction at the proposed site as the matter regarding the land is sub-judice,” Jamin Adhikar Andolan convener Sagar Rabari told PTI here today.
Rabari said it is feared that a confrontation was likely between
the villagers and the company if it continued with construction work at the site.
MSI has already started building a boundary wall at the proposed site. It claims it has purchased and received possession of the land for the Hansalpur plant.
“Villagers claim they have the right to the land purchased by
Maruti from the State
Government, as it was theirs earlier.
“However, the Gujarat
government claims that the land sold to MSI was wasteland,”
Rabari said.
The villagers are also opposed to Gujarat government’s plan to
convert the area around the MSI plant into a Special Investment Region.
On May 25, villagers had organised a rally condemning the state government’s plan to
convert fertile, ultivable land into an SIR.As part of its industrial policy, the
State Government has notified the Mandal — Becharaji SIR to be
developed as an “auto and knowledge hub”. The SIR also covers MSI’s car plant at
Hansalpur village, located on the Viramgam — Becharaji highway.
Villagers, under the banner of the Jamin Adhikar Andolan, Azad
Vikas Sangathan, Seva Sahkari Mandal and Dudh Utapadan
Mandal will submit a
memorandum on Friday to SIR’s Chief Executive Officer Pankaj Patel.