ગુજરાતી
English
July 2024
The ruling party MLAs are targeting the officials one after the other. After the Lok Sabha elections, 12 BJP MLAs had raised their voice against the government and the system.
These include Yogesh Patel, Dhawalsinh Jhala, Arvind Rana, Ketan Inamdar, Abhesinh Tadvi, Amul Bhatt, DK Swami, Shamji Chauhan, Kumar Kanani, Janak Talavia, Sanjay Koradia and now Jeetu Somani.
All these MLAs have publicly criticized the officials. The main reason for this is that the government does not listen to their representatives. The government is giving more importance to the officials than the members elected by the public. Like the secretariat, bureaucracy is ruling in the district as well and these MLAs are publicly expressing their grievances.
Where will corruption be eradicated, where investigation is the only ‘drama’
Corruption has become so rampant in the departments and public enterprises of Gujarat that the investigating officers themselves have come forward to save the corrupt officer. The main reason for not completing even the preliminary investigation in such cases is that the retired officer appointed for investigation is involved in the activity of protecting the corrupt officer. In the last three years, more than 32,000 complaints of corruption have been received in government offices, out of which action has been recommended against 3300 officers and employees, yet adequate information has not been provided by the departments. In the last one year, the highest number of complaints of corruption in government departments were received in the Urban Development Department (3000), Revenue Department (1800) and Panchayat and Home Department (1200 each), while out of the total pending cases of primary investigation, the highest number of 450 are from Revenue, 370 from Urban Development and 350 from Panchayat Department.
Six urban development laws not updated for years
The government is struggling to provide justice to the common citizens due to the urban development laws of the state not being updated for years. Like fire safety, hospital rules are 13 years old, hotel rules are 8 years old, residential townships are 15 years old and waste-to-energy policy is eight years old. Besides, the policy for slum rehabilitation through public-private partnership (PPP) on public land is 11 years old and rules for rehabilitation and redevelopment of slum dwellers are 14 years old, yet no official or minister has bothered to amend them. The fire in Rajkot has proved that the urban development department still needs many reforms, because since there was no law for gaming zones and entertainment zones in government files, the government is now including them.
Livestock at the mercy of God: 4.42 crore sq m. pressure on grazing land
In Gadhada taluka panchayat of Botad, cattle herders created a ruckus to remove pressure on cattle grazing land. They entered the office with their cows, causing panic among the employees. This is just one example, but there may be many such examples in the future, because governments have encroached upon pasture land. In the current situation, only eight lakh hectares of pasture land is left in the state against two crore cattle. According to official data of the Revenue Department, 4420.96 hectares of pasture land i.e. about 4,42,09,802 square meters have been illegally occupied. The state government had made a pasture policy in 2015, but it has not been implemented till date. Not even an inch of pasture land is left in three thousand villages of the state.
How did unemployment increase along with FDI in Gujarat?
The central government has just released the data on how much foreign direct investment came to Gujarat last year. According to these figures, Gujarat is second after Maharashtra with a figure of $ 7.3 billion in the financial year 2023-24, while it is at the first place in the growth rate of FDI with an increase of 55 percent. Maharashtra has received an investment of $15.01 billion, which is almost double that of Gujarat. There is no doubt that the figures of foreign investment in Gujarat are impressive, but the surprising thing is that despite the increase in FDI in Gujarat, the unemployment rate is also increasing. The unemployment rate in Gujarat was 1.8 percent in March 2023, which has increased to 2.3 percent this year. That is, the unemployment rate in Gujarat has increased by more than 25 percent.
Female constable has access to big leaders
CID Crime’s female constable Neeta Chaudhary, who was caught with liquor and illegal liquor in Kutch, has been suspended, but she has not been affected as she has the support of a leader from North Gujarat. It is said that this liquor was brought to Kutch via Rajasthan. This female constable was earlier involved in a high-profile case, but a leader saved her. She is very active on social media. About four years ago in the state, female police constable Arpita Chaudhary made a video in a police station and made it viral, in which she was suspended, but after some time she was taken back on duty. What will happen now, only time will tell.
GST revenue increased in the state, but units closed in large numbers
GST revenue is increasing every month in Gujarat, but small and medium units are also gradually closing down. The state tax department has received a revenue of Rs 9589 crore from GST, VAT, electricity duty and trade tax in June 2024, which is 14 percent more than in June last year. Out of this revenue, GST alone is Rs 5561 crore. A total of Rs 5561 crore has been collected from GST, VAT, electricity duty and trade tax in June 2024.
According to Vakshan, four lakh businesses have shut down in the state after the implementation of GST. The state tax department itself has cancelled a total of 4.05 lakh GST numbers in seven years. These companies have shut down or have been merged. State
There are many units in Gujarat whose business is not running and returns are not being filed, so they are facing penalties. A state tax official said that despite strict action against units involved in fake billing, companies are forced to close down. About 30 percent of the 11.95 lakh GST numbers in the state have been cancelled.
Prisoners are being stuffed like sheep and goats in state jails
Despite the announcement of building multi-storey jails in Gujarat 25 years ago, the government’s promises have not been fulfilled, as a result, most of the jails have more prisoners than their capacity. There are a total of 30 jails in the state, including four central, 12 district, eight sub, two special and three open jails. Except for three-four jails, prisoners are being crammed like sheep and goats in all other jails. Godhra sub-jail has 313 prisoners against the capacity of 133 male prisoners. Morbi has 294 prisoners instead of 143 and Junagadh has 550 prisoners instead of 250. Porbandar jail has 214 prisoners against the capacity of 110, which is a record. Ahmedabad Central Jail has 3699 prisoners instead of 2646, Vadodara has 1687 prisoners instead of 995, Rajkot has 2079 prisoners instead of 1147 and Lajpur has 3065 prisoners instead of 2757.
Police outnumbered workers in BJP protest in Surat
Surat is considered a BJP stronghold in Gujarat, but the BJP is surprised that the event organised to protest Rahul Gandhi’s comments on the Hindu community was a complete flop. Surat Nagar BJP had planned to protest in front of the Congress office last Tuesday against Rahul’s description of the Hindu community as violent in the Lok Sabha. Since the BJP was going to protest, the police also made tight arrangements and sent a police convoy, but when barely 100 workers joined the protest, the police was also surprised. The scene was as if the police had more convoys than BJP workers.
Video of BJP leader, liquor being sold like buttermilk
Discontent is growing in the BJP in Gujarat and BJP leaders and workers have come into the role of opposition, as shown by BJP leader Vipul Dudhat in Amreli. District Panchayat member Dudhat himself caught the liquor and posted a video on social media, proving that the liquor ban in Gujarat is only on paper, causing embarrassment to both the government and the police.
Dudhat also posted a message on social media that liquor is being sold like buttermilk in Mota Liliya village. The funny thing is that Dudhat had informed the police before arresting the liquor sellers, but when the police did nothing, the BJP leader himself had to become the police. The situation is the same everywhere in Gujarat. The ban on liquor has been lifted in Gujarat and liquor is openly available throughout the state.
