Hotline Asia Urgent Appeals -- UA000504(6)

Action Requested || Sample Letter || Background

Summary

It was a year ago that Hotline issued an Urgent Appeal on the Maroli-Umbergaon Port (UA990504-6) requesting the international community to send their appeals to the Chief Minister of Gujarat to suspend the project. Local people are firmly opposed to the port project for fear of the incalculable damage it might cause to their precious coastal land, trees, marine environment and their livelihood. Recently, on April 7, 2000 the situation got worse when hundreds of villagers from the pretty seaside village of Umbergaon, the Southernmost tip of the coast of Gujarat, came out on the streets to protest against the survey for the location of the proposed port. It was alleged that police, who were present without warning, charged protesters with rattan canes and lobbed about 30 tear gas shells to disperse the crowd. As a result, many were injured, 47 were arrested and released later on. However, on April 8, 2000 Lt. Colonel Pratap Save, the President of the Kinara Bachao Samiti (one of the local organisations conducting studies on the impact of the port) and a leader of peaceful protest movement, was arrested. He was brutally beaten up by the local police, was sent to the hospital unconscious, remained in a coma and finally died on April 20.

Write to express your concern about the death of Colonel Pratap Save and police violence towards local people protesting against the Maroli-Umbergaon Port Project.

Sample Letter

Background

According to those opposed to the project, the State of Gujarat in its fervour for 'development' is intending to establish a gigantic industrial port along the coast in Umbergaon Taluka of Valsad district. The plan is to make this port one of the largest ports in the country. The need for a port in the area is doubtful because presently there are 41 ports in Gujarat: 1 major port, 11 intermediate ports and 29 minor ports. According to critics, there is absolutely no need for another port in this area.

The port project will affect about 20-25 villages in Umbergaon, Dehri, Saroda, Sanjjan, Nargol, Khatalwad, Phansa, and Maroli. The majority of the residents, in the villages of Umbergaon Taluka, to be affected are fishermen and farmers. This area is a rich spawning and breeding ground for fish. The advent of the port will ravage the marine ecosystem and it therefore violates the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) laws which have been put in place to protect environmentlly fragile coastal ecosystems. Moreover, agricultural land will be acquired for the port and for infrastructure purpose. The fishermen and farmers will lose their sole means of livelihood and will be rendered destitute.

The Chief Minister of Gujarat has issued a letter of intent to a consortium called Natelco-Unocal Limited to develop a port in the region spanning the above mentioned villages. Local activists relate that the Chief Minister's son and son-in-law were intimately connected with Natelco and played a key role in landing Natelco this project. It was also alleged that the advice from the Government's Working Group for the Port Sector to privatise the existing ports in order to increase the capacity is part and parcel of the IMF-World Bank imposed 'reform' to the government to open Indian economy. Through privatisation, the government has already gone full steam ahead by privatising vital sectors of the economy like power supply, transportation, airports, insurance, bank, etc. The setting up of the private port in Umbergaon is another step in this direction.

People organise to fight against the port: Though this project will adversely affect the lives and livelihood of the locals, they have not been given any information about it. The project is being executed in a most secretive manner and the locals only came to know about it when surveyors were found surveying the area. Ever since the villagers of the Umbargaon have come to know about the port, they have set up the Kinara Bachao Samiti and Umbergaon Taluka Bandar Hatao Sangharsh Samiti. These two organisations studied the impact of the proposed
port on the environment, land and marine resources. It was found that the impact would lead to untold devastation. Several rallies have been held protesting the setting up of the port. Though local self-government bodies, memorandums and unanimous resolutions opposing the project have been passed to concerned authorities and the Chief Minister, he has not acceded to the will of the people. The locals are not opposing development but the concept of development which will destroy a sustainable lifestyle and especially when there is no need for a port in this area. Due to the opposition of the locals the survey till date has not been completed.

Violence and death of the port dissents: 7 April 2000 - two companies of the State Reserve Police (SRP) entered Umbergoan and started to erect tents on a plot of private land to prepare for the entry of private parties who were entrusted with surveying the area to find the best location for the proposed port. Colonel Pratap Save (Retd.), the President of the Kinara Bachao Samiti and a leader of peaceful protest movement, met the SRP Commandant and asked them not to provoke the people and maintain calm. Afterwards, hundreds of villagers gathered at the site, surrounded the SRP as they were putting up their tents and started shouting slogans to stop the survey. The SRP and the police then, without warning charged the people with cane sticks and lobbed about 30 teargas shells to disperse the crowd. Many were injured.

Police roamed the streets of the town till late at night, indiscriminately beating up anyone they found walking on the road. As a result, 47 people including 18 women were arrested and charged with rioting, "armed with a deadly weapon and causing hurt to prevent a public servant form doing his duty" [we should put the actual wording in quotations]. They were released on April 9.

In early hours of April 8, Colonel Pratap Save was arrested at his home. He was thrown into the room where the other 47 arrested person were detained and was allegedly "karate chopped on the head" by the Gujarat police's deputy superintendant. Colonel Pratap Save collapsed in custody and was taken unconscious to the hospital where doctors were unable to treat him. He was brought to Bombay and stayed in a coma until he died on April 20.

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