ગુજરાતી
English
Ahmedabad, 2 August 2024
In the survey settlement report of Ghudkhar Sanctuary, the rights of only 497 Agariyas have been recognized. So 7 thousand Agariyas will become unemployed. Agariyas are demanding reconsideration of this report. Industry sources believe that 5 lakh hectares of land is most suitable for solar and wind energy. Industries worth crores of rupees can be brought on that land.
76% of the total salt production of the country is cooked in Gujarat. Out of this 76% percent, 31% of the salt is grown in the small desert of Kutch. After the monsoon, in the month of September-October, traditional farmers of 107 other villages of Surendranagar, Morbi, Patan and 6 talukas of Kutch district go to the small desert of Kutch and earn their livelihood by cooking Vadagaru and Poda salt.
The small desert of Kutch was declared Ghudkhar Sanctuary in 1973 and then the survey and settlement process started in 1997. In the survey settlement process, the claims of thousands of Agariyas, traditional salt cooks, who had ownership rights from generation to generation, were rejected. Therefore, thousands of Agariya families are likely to face problems in earning their livelihood in the coming days.
Regarding this, Harinesh Pandya of Agariya Hitrakshak Manch says that the small desert of Kutch was never surveyed before or after independence. It is known as “zero survey number”. Its 7/12 discharge is not coming out. Asking for the transcript and documents of Ran 7/12 from Agariyas and excluding them on that basis is completely unfair. If we look at the survey settlement report, it is found that the rights of some companies or people who had a small part of the desert before independence have been recognized.
After independence some people, Mandals, obtained leases in the desert, validating their rights subject to renewal of lease. Leases are not renewed in the sanctuary by the High Court order. So even those recognised rights mean nothing.
Traditional agrias have been curing salt for centuries, and as per the decision of the Salt Expert Committee of the Government of India in 1948, agrias up to 10 acres do not require any lease licence.
As per the Forest Rights Act of 2006, the rights of people traditionally earning their livelihood from generation to generation in any sanctuary should be recognised upfront through gram sabhas, panchayats and statements of 75-year-old village elders. Which did not happen in this case.
Ghudkhar sanctuary has 4.95 lakh hectares of land. Even if 6 to 7 thousand agrias are allowed to cultivate salt in 10-10 acres, it is only 6% of the total land.
The Agariyas want only seasonal usufruct rights in the desert, and leave the land with the Sanctuary Department.
For the last 2 years, the Sanctuary Department has been preventing the Agariyas from going to the desert citing their names not being in the Survey and Settlement Report.
Last season, Rana Kandhi deployed SRP and maintained a strict setup. After several presentations, the Agariyas were allowed to go to the desert on the recommendation of public representatives.
In the next one and a half to two months when the salt season arrives, the traditional Agariyas have requested the government to reconsider the Survey Settlement Report and give permanent recognition to the seasonal usufruct rights of all traditional Agariyas through gram panchayats and gram sabhas. said Harinesh Pandya of Agariya Hitrakshak Manch.
