The earthquake had razed to the ground the dwellings of 162 families of Satapar village off Anjar town. The government had not surveyed their village to assess the extent of devastation caused to life and property. United under the banner of ‘Lok Adhikar Manch’, the people of Satapar resolved to resort to Satyagraha. They staged a dharna in front of the office of the Taluka Development Officer and presented him with a memorandum listing their grievances.

Within a week people from as many as 43 villages of Anjar taluka got drawn into the movement for getting compensation from the government. A relay hunger strike was started in which a batch of men and women undertook fast every day to press for their demand for carrying out a survey of their villages for the identification of earthquake-affected households, loss to life and property. A group of educated youths from these villages wrote applications on behalf of the quake victims and a bunch of these applications were submitted to the Taluka Development Officer.

The movement for justice to the quake-affected soon gathered momentum with people from Rapar and Bhachau talukas joining it. The Lok Adhikar Manch held sit-in (dharna) demonstrations at the taluka headquarters in Rapar and Bhachau on January 19, 2002. People from 63 villages participated in the demonstration. In Bhachau, the government wanted to demolish a slum to construct a hospital in its place. Those to be displaced by the demolition organized a ‘rasta roko’ programme, stopping vehicular traffic on the main roads. Instead of negotiating with the demonstrators, the police resorted to lathi charge and arrested scores of members of the Lok Adhikar Manch. The police also demolished the office of the Lok Adhikar Manch.

The administration resorted to repressive measures with a view to preventing the people from organizing a mass demonstration on the occasion of the first anniversary of the earthquake. It was obvious that a mass protest movement, a year after the earthquake, would have caused much embarrassment to the government that had failed miserably in rehabilitating the people.

Instead of causing demoralization, the repressive action of the government further strengthened people’s resolve to fight for their rights. A state-level convention was organized at Samakhiyali on January 30 attended by earthquake-affected people from Bhuj, Anjar, Rapar, Bhachau, Lakhpat, Halvad, Jodiya, Maliya, Chotila, Sayla, Patadi, Dhrangadhra, Veraval, Palanpur, Ahmedabad and Junagadh.

The movement under the banner of Lok Adhikar Manch exposed large-scale corruption and failure of the government in providing relief to the people and compelled the government to take remedial measures.

Jal Jamin jatan Yatra

(Efforts to revive a dead river)
Rupen is among the scores of rivers that originate from the foothills of the Aravali range and used to empty into the Gulf of Kutch. The river used to be a perennial one before the hills were denuded by the plundering axe of the greedy man. The fresh water of Rupen quenched the thirst of the people and their cattle, and also recharged the innumerable wells and ponds. Not any more. Felling of trees in its catchment area, excessive withdrawal of groundwater for irrigating cash crops and digging of mines have virtually killed the river.

MARAG brought together ten NGOs, including a few educational institutions, to take up the cause of Rupen. A network called the Rupen Lok Vikas Manch has been formed to mobilize people’s participation in efforts to revive the river. A week-long padyatra was carried out from April 26 to May 2, 2003 covering 35 riparian villages to understand from the people the problems being faced by them and discuss with them steps to revive the dead river. On the last day of the padyatra a 109 metre long and 25 metre deep underground checkdam was constructed with the voluntary labour of 350 people from 11 villages with a cost of Rs 4500 only. The actual cost of such a structure is around Rs 1.5 lakhs however in this case the cost of material (plastic, gunny bags, etc), tractor and JCB was peoples contribution.

Campaign for the rights of Maldharis in Ahmedabad city and in Surendranagar

In September 2003 a resolution was passed by the Government wherein Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, AMC resorted to impounding the cattle from the city in an effort to clean the city. However the irony of the whole situation was that the AMC did not catch the unproductive or stray cattle that were creating nuisance on the roads but the authorities only picked the ‘productive’ animals that were found resting in the open land near the Maldhari settlements. By catching the unproductive animals the officials were able to charge both legally and illegally a hefty amount from the owners for their release.

Many NGOs came together to fight for the cause of Maldharis and in the process PADKAR (which means challenge) was formed. Soon after community was mobilized on this issue and a rally as organised where 15000 Maldharis from all over Gujarat participated. The outcome was that the AMC withdrew its decision to hike the penalty and stopped harassing the Maldharis. PADKAR is now a state level alliance of NGOs and CBOs working for the rights of the Maldharis.

Another campaign took shape in January 2004 in Surendranagar district. It began with a legal notice circulated by the collector to the Maldharis of the villages of Sayla and Chotila blocks to present evidence of their being farmers. In the absence of required proof they were asked to return the land they have purchased decades ago for agriculture. A number of Maldhari families had purchased land from rich farmers with all the necessary legal documents at that time.

An interesting scam that came out during the episode was that government officials were taking bribes to issues caste certificates (proof that they are ‘Maldharis’), which is an important document to receive government benefits. The amount of bribery varied from Rs 5000 – Rs 15000. to mobilize masses on the issue and to take it further a rally was organised at Surendranagar where around 2000 Maldhari men and women made representation demanding their land rights followed by a meeting with the collector. The success of the movement could be adjudged from the fact that the Talati, in many villages was seen returning the bribe taken to issue caste certificates.