State of Unity land dispute

GNN | Feb 01, 2020, 12:23 PM IST|

• Gujarat High Court wants settlement within 10 days

Ahmedabad, Feb 01, 2020: The Gujarat High Court has given the Gujarat Government and the applicants of a PIL (public interest litigation) one last chance to sort out their differences in the matter of land acquisition around the State of Unity (SoU) and bring about an amicable solution.
Noted Ahmedabad-based environmentalist Mahesh Pandya has challenged the state’s land acquisition in six villages around SoU in Narmada district in south Gujarat. In the PIL, Maheshbhai said the government and the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL) were set to evict more than 5000 tribals “under the guise of tourism development projects without following due procedure prescribed under the Land Acquisition Act”.
The high court has directed both the parties should sit together and bring some resolution on this matter in the next 10 days. If the two parties are unable to find a mutually agreeable decision on their own, the HC will take a final call. The next hearing, in this case, is scheduled for February 11.
In the PIL, Maheshbhai also mentions that the authorities were asserting their rights over these lands by claiming that the lands had been acquired back in the 1960s. However, since there was no need for the land, people were allowed to settle there.
Earlier the high court had ordered status quo on the land acquisition for tourism projects near the SoU till further orders. The GHC also directed the Gujarat Government not to evict tribals in six villages of Kevadia, Vagadiaya, Navagam, Limbdi, Kothi and Gora which are situated near the Statue of Unity.