Gir Somnath farmers protest laying of 27-km BG line

Rajkot: Farmers from Gir Somnath district protested the laying of broad gauge railway lines between Kodinar and Somnath on Monday. Registering their angst, leaders alleged that the railway board is only doing it to benefit four companies that want to transport their material using railways.
The farmer leaders voiced their dissent in the meeting with deputy collector of Gir Somnath district to start the process of land acquisition.Farmers have been protesting the acquisition for more than a year now and also submitted various memorandums to the district collector but to no avail.
According to farmers, railways wants to acquire nearly 1,200 bigha farm land in 20 villages which is currently being used to cultivate crops by more than 550 farmers in Kodinar, Veraval and Sutrapada talukas. According to leaders, of the 550 farmers, 300 will lose their entire land leading to unemployment. The acquisition process was put on halt two times including during last parliamentary election but gets restarted again.
Farmer leader, Ramesh Barad said, “The land that is proposed to be acquired is fertile and we are able to cultivate three crops a year. Also, there are mango and coconut orchards on that land. These farms are already suffering from flooding due to heavy rains. After the railway line will block the natural way of rainwater merging in sea, it will result in flood-like situation everywhere.”
Villagers also said that the region is also home to 44 lions and 118 leopards which will be exposed to dangers from the expansion of railway track. Gir Somnath district collector Ajay Prakash could not be contacted despite several attempts.
Railways had proposed the 27-km Kodinar-Somnath BG line in September 2015 to come up at a cost of Rs 394 crore in 206 hectare land of 20 villages.
“As the Chhara port is coming up near Kodinar, this BG line will be a very important to connect the port with rest of India. This will boost economic activity in the region,” said division railway manager of Bhavnagar Prateek Goswami.