20,000 acres of land allotted to Dalits, OBCs, tribals in Gujarat not handed over yet: Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani

Gandhinagar: State Congress working president and Vadgam MLA Jignesh Mevani said in the assembly on Tuesday that 20,000 acres of land allotted to Dalits, OBCs and tribals was not yet handed over to them in the state.Speaking during a discussion on the Saurashtra Gharkhed, Tenancy Settlement and Agricultural Lands (Gujarat Amendment) Bill, Mevani said that in Surendranagar district, Dalit farm labourers wrote to authorities for 15 years about encroachments on their 7,500 acres of land, yet no action was taken.
"I raised this issue multiple times over the past eight years in the assembly. The govt must commit to resolving this issue. If we can allocate land to large corporate entities, why is the state not handing over land for cultivation? The state revenue department must act to remove illegal encroachments and ensure justice for the marginalised," he said.During past assembly sessions too, Mevani had asked the govt to register offences in cases where Dalits have been allotted land parcels under Gujarat Agriculture Land Ceiling Act, but the same remained illegally encroached upon by non-Dalits. He demanded that preventive measures should be taken by the police to ensure that the land allottees do not suffer loss of life or property in case they go on their own to take possession of the illegally encroached land.