CHazira’soastal villagers demand employment

Surat: People of 13 coastal villages of Surat took out a rally and submitted a memorandum to the district collector on Monday, demanding government’s intervention with the giant industries in Hazira to give employment to local people and farmers who have lost their farmlands to them.
The villagers, carrying placards, stated that the level of pollution from industrial units in Hazira has increased manifold and around 100 people have died due to cancer and other 60 are suffering from the killer disease. Sarpanches of these villages along with village elders also participated in the rally. They have issued a one-month ultimatum to the district administration to give jobs to locals, create a pollution-free environment and provide education to their children or else an indefinite bandh would be observed in the area.
Hazira Kantha Mandli president and sarpanch of Bhatlai village Chotubhai Patel said, “Reliance, Kribhco, NTPC, GAIL, Cairn Energy, ONGC etc. are present in Hazira for the last three decades, but they are yet to employ local villagers. These companies are importing workers from other states. If our demands are not fulfilled, then we will announce a bandh in Hazira.”
Patel added, “The villagers are dying of cancer as the industries are releasing polluted water and air. The future of our children is bleak. Time will come when the government will have only one choice, either to remove the industries from Hazira or us.”
A resident of Damka village Ramesh Patel said, “We are preparing to give a legal fight to industries in Hazira. These industries have come in the area a few decades ago, but we are living here since many decades. If we can’t live properly in our villages, we will not allow the industrialists and industries to prosper.”
by via Surat News, Latest Surat News Headlines & Live Updates - Times of India