Residents of the Bhayli area, which was recently included within the boundaries of the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC), held a protest at the Vadodara District Collector’s office on Friday, threatening to boycott the civic body polls if their demand to include the area under Gujarat’s Real Property Transfer Prohibition Law and Tenant Eviction Provisions of Premises in Disturbed Areas was not complied with.
Residents want to bring the area under the Act, popularly known as the Disturbed Areas Act (DA Act), and cancel the allocation of housing to the minority community under the upcoming Mukhyamantri Awas Yojana housing plan of the Vadodara Urban Development Authority (SUV).
The women-led neighbors, who have formed a group under the name of Bhayli Awareness group, came to the office of the District Collector, to present a memorandum with their demands.
Citing that Bhayli has been a “peaceful and developing neighborhood”, the memorandum urged the administration to include the area under the AD Act which establishes “the possibility of disturbance of public order in the Bhayli area in the coming days if minorities from the neighboring area of Tandalja start to change here. If our demand is to include our area in the riots. If our demand is not met, we will boycott the corporate elections completely. “
Drishti Panchal and Mital Patel, who are among the protesters, said: “Our area is a peace-loving Hindu neighborhood … But the peace is likely to be broken as houses are allocated to Muslims … We want that our area is included in the group Disturbed Areas Act so that peace prevails … If our demand is not met, we will boycott the elections.
The memorandum called for the inclusion of Bhayli along with areas 1 to 5 of the Urban Planning Plan under the purview of the law. Pramod Vasava, executive engineer (affordable housing) at VMC, said that the corporation “had nothing to do with the housing plan or allowances, as the beneficiaries were not within the limits of VMC,” while a senior official from VMC confirmed that several displaced residents of slums in Vadodara, including Muslim families from the controversial Kalyannagar demolitions in the city, have been allocated housing in said project.
Resident additional collector, Vadodara, DR Patel, told The Indian Express: “We received the memo from residents and it is not the first time they have sent it. However, since the area is not included in the Disturbed Areas Act as of now, there is no guide under which its demand can be met … Government projects can definitely have beneficiaries from any community. “
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