Faced with massive protests from farmers and social activists, the Gujarat government has done a volte face on Mandal-Bechraji Special Investment Region (SIR) project.
The government has decided to exclude 36 of the total 44 villages from this proposed project. Finance minister and government spokesperson Nitin Patel said that the government has done so while respecting the demands of the farmers who were not in favour of the SIR.
However, he said that the proposed SIR project will now be implemented in eight villages where the majority of the farmers are in favour of it. These villages are Udhroj, Ukardi, Chandanka, Udhrojpura, Shihor, Hansalpur, Bharapur and Sitapur falling in Mandal, Detroj and Becharaji talukas.
The Mandal-Bechraji SIR is a proposed cluster of automobile and textile industries on the Delhi-Mumbai freight corridor. Auto major Maruti Suzuki India Ltd is setting up a car factory here.
A committee of ministers formed by Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi has decided to cut down the size of the SIR and issue a fresh notification.
The proposed SIR is part of the Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor which is being developed in partnership with the Japan government. The Gujarat CM, known for his tough stance, did not want to take chances by going against farmers’ opinion in the run up to the parliamentary polls.
The CM had formed the committee which has proposed exclusion of those villages that do not want the SIR on their lands.
A few days ago, the farmers opposing the project had taken out a massive rally from the proposed SIR area to Gandhinagar to oppose the project. They had met Modi who had told them that no forced acquisition of land would be made.
The area where the SIR was proposed is predominantly an agricultural stretch with no industrial presence. It was one of the seven notified SIRs in Gujarat.
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