Gandhian flays Gujarat Govt for land allotment to pvt firm

AHMEDABAD: Veteran Gandhian and Gujarat Loksamiti President Chuni
Vaidya today criticised the state govenment's decision to allot land
to a private company for jatropha cultivation, terming the move as
totally unjustified.

In a statement here, he said the BJP Government had given away 5,000
acres in 29 villages of Surendranagar and Patan districts to a private
firm for cultivation of jatropha, used in production of bio-diesel,
instead of distributing it among the landless labourers of those villages.

In view of the grim food situation all over the world, it would be
wrong to use the land for bio-diesel instead of foodgrains, Vaidya said.

"We have already written to Revenue Minister Anandi Patel. We are also
going to submit a memorandum soon. And if the government is still
adamant, we would launch a full- fledged agitation," he told PTI by
phone from Surendranagar, where he was meeting people of the affected
villages.

"Instead of alloting the land to the company, the governement should
have alloted it to the landless farmers. They too can cultivate
jatropha on that land."

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